Darkness Falls
by windsongspringheart
Summary: Sometimes, only the darkness can save them all. In the darkness can they finally all heal. Meet Presely. The fifth Charmed One. This is her story. Slight AU, main story taking place after "Forever Charmed". Rated T. There are a few chapters do have sensitive subjects, but nothing too graphic. Those can be skipped if you must. Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing that is familiar.
1. Prologue

**A/N: This is my first published fan fic, so I would really appreciate it if you would please R &amp; R! I am going to try to upload a new chapter every week, but I can't always guarantee because life can and does get in the way sometimes. But, all of that being said, I really hope you guys enjoy this!**

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Sister Agnes was doing her nightly prayers when, suddenly, bright white lights appeared out of nowhere. Stunned and wondering what she just saw, she stares and asks, "Can I help you?"

Patty steps forward, eyes full of the deepest sorrow and arms carrying two sleeping babies. "Please. We need to put them up for adoption with good families. They are in far too much danger to be able to stay with us." Her voice breaks and the tears begin to flow with the last statement. "Please. We don't have a choice. They need to be protected."

Sister Agnes nods. "Yes. Of course," as she reaches out to take two of the most beautiful little girls she's ever seen. They look just like angels. More so than any other innocent, new life. "Oh. My. They are so beautiful."

Patty nods, the tears not stopping and Sam crying just as hard behind her. "They really are. That's why we must do this. Please. Make sure they stay safe. And, if you can, could you please make sure their names start with a 'P'? That way they have just a little bit more of us." She's sobbing now.

"Anything, ma'am. Of course. For four beautiful angels, anything."

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I hate this world and everyone in it. Especially those so-called "nice" people. They're the worst. They never actually do something nice to be nice. There's always an ulterior motive with them.

It's one of those people I'm hunting right now. I've been hunting these people down for the last few years. Ever since I found out I was a witch. I don't have to deal with their nonsense anymore. I am finally free and able to make them feel the pain they inflict upon others.

I finally see him walking down the sidewalk. He's alone this time. Good. I follow just barely behind him, hiding in the shadows. He doesn't even realize I've been watching him for days now. His phone rings and he stops just off a beaten alleyway with nothing in it but a couple of dumpsters and a cat prowling in the corner to answer it. Excellent. It's all going to plan and it's finally almost time to strike.

I listen in as he talks on the phone. Sounds like he's at it again with another one. Well, I'm not going to allow that to happen. Not again. He finally hangs up and I know it's time to move.

"Long time no see, Jerry" I say as I step from the depths of darkness. I see he doesn't even remember who I am. Doesn't even look like he cares. That makes me even angrier.

"Excuse me," he says as he tries to walk around me, but I move to block his path.

"I don't think so," I respond as I summon a gust of air and throw him against the fence at the end of the alley. Now I can finally see the fear starting to show.

"Who are you?" he asks me. "Oh, so you don't remember then?" I respond with barely masked fury. "I guess it doesn't really matter. It won't change the here and now and what's going to happen for everything you've ever done to me and everyone else!" I then summon fire from my right hand and throw it towards his hands, one resting against his knee and the other holding him up from the ground. Those despicable hands. Those bringers of pain. Well, I can bring my own pain now. He screams in pain as I aim towards the one holding him up.

I feed more of my fury into the fire I've summoned and it begins to spread upwards towards his shoulder. I can smell burned flesh now. I stop the stream of flame from my right hand and summon a stream of water from my left hand to douse the fire. Smoke rises from him and he's groaning now. This is going to be fun.

I step forward and crouch down to look him straight in the face. The moonlight glaces off my features and now I can see he knows me. "See? I told you," I say as his face changes to pure terror. I summon another gust of air and throw him to the corner with one hand and summon another stream of fire from the other. He's screaming again. Right now I'm glad he walks around all these deserted areas. Nobody around to hear this. His whole body is now on fire and the smell of his flesh is getting nauseating. I summon some more water to douse the flames again.

"So, you see, I can hurt you so much more than you can hurt me now. And the fun thing is, I can do it over and over again. At least until I get bored, that is. And I can hide your body so well, they'll never be able to find you. Maybe you should have stopped to think about what you were doing. Stopped to think that what was giving YOU pleasure was hurting someone else and that it might someday come to bite you in the ass. But, I'm sure you see the problem in my statement as clearly as I do. All of that would have meant you would actually have had to think, and we both know that that is too difficult for you do. And you know what? That's okay. Because that's the thing about karma. It always comes back to bite you in the ass!" I scream as I summon yet another gust of air and fling him up against the fence again, this time holding him there for my entire speech. I must admit, I do get tired of reciting it. They'll never learn. That's why I always finish what I start.

"Please," he says. "Please." "Nope," I respond with venom dripping with every word. "You wouldn't stop for me. You wouldn't stop for the others. So, why should I?" I summon my third and final wave of fire against him. This time, I'm not stopping. I feed everything into this and the screams soon stop. I finally let go of the wind I was using to hold him up there and the fire wave I used to make him finally stop and his body plumps to the ground. I don't know why I never feel much relief at the end of one of my pay-backs. Sure, I feel better for a little bit, but the pain never stops.

I shake that thought out of my head as I take a deep breath and spread my hands out wide and a giant hole appears in front of me where the body was. He's finally gone and swallowed up by the earth to be cleansed away. I bring my hands closer together and the hole closes as it it never was. Another one down.

"Hey!" I hear a woman yelling from behind. I turn around and see three women approaching me. I don't know why, but my heart starts beating faster.

"Can I help you?" I ask them as they get even closer to me. Funny, they look like sisters. And they kind of look like me. One, especially.

They finally stop their approach about 5 feet away from me. They look poised for battle. And they don't seem happy about it. "We saw what you just did. What the hell are you thinking!?" The one on the right screams at me. I don't know why we look so much alike. It doesn't make sense. My defenses at full alert, I respond, "What's it to you what I'm doing? I didn't do it to you. In fact, I probably just saved your ass!"

They all look taken aback. What is going on here? "Listen," the one on the right says, "We came here to help you. Obviously we didn't know how much help you needed! Just please stop and hear what we have to say."

Seriously? The whole nice person, just listen to me routine? How many times to go I have to go through this bullshit!? "No, YOU listen, lady! I don't need your help! I don't need anybody! I can take care of myself! If you saw what I did, then you should obviously know that! Why don't you just back off and leave me the hell alone!"

They all look at each other. I know that this isn't going to end well for them. The one in the middle finally says, "Look, we haven't spent all this time and effort trying to find you to have you talk to us like that and to keep doing what you're doing. You need us, you just don't know it yet. We are not leaving here without you!" as she raises her hands like she's going to do something with them. I hear a loud boom behind me as the dumpster explodes. "Now that is just a warning. You need to cool it before we get serious."

I give her a deep look of fury. She obviously doesn't know who the hell she is dealing with. And I always get serious. "Oh yeah? Well. Tough shit!" I say as I summon a huge gust of air and throw them against the walls. I run for it and use the air behind me and the earth before me to speed my retreat. I don't have a beef with them. Not yet anyway. I have more work to do. As I escape, I hear one of them screaming at me to stop. I ignore them. At least until her last sentence as I speed away. "We're your sisters!" I know that can't be. I'm an only child. I don't have parents. They're surely lying to slow me down again. I keep going.

I keep running until I finally make it home. It sure ain't much, but it keeps me safe. What a mess this night turned out to be. A simple night of revenge ruined by three meddlesome women who tried to make me believe I have a family. I don't have a famly anymore. They're all gone. I slide down the wall and sit on the floor. The tears are coming. Not again. I can't stand crying. Tears never fix anything. Then the memories start falling over me like a summer downpour...


	2. Shattered

**A/N: Sorry this is a little bit late. I admit that I had a really difficult time writing it because I don't remember much from being that age, so I had a hard time getting the effect I wanted here. Thankfully my soundboard/beta is a lifesaver and helped out immensely! There are just two things I wanted to point out about this chapter, the first being that this is just the story line and isn't too horribly exciting at least where the supernatural comes in to play. Or is it? Hmm. I'll let you decide on that one ;). Second, I didn't give her a last name and I did that for a reason. I'm sure you'll see as you read along. So anyway, enough of my blathering. I hope you enjoy!**

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My name is Presely. But most people call me Pres. I have dark brown hair and brown eyes with freckles on my face. I'm so excited today because it's my birthday and I'm six years old. I had to go to school this morning, so my parents dropped me off and promised to pick me up as soon as school lets out. I was so happy when I got up this morning. But now I'm scared and confused.

I got called to the principal's office right after morning recess. Some police officers were there waiting to take me to the police station. I'm only six, what did I do wrong? I always try to be good like mommy and daddy tell me. Nobody will tell me why I'm here and I wish they would stop staring at me. I want to go home. I want my mom and dad. Everyone is talking around me. Why won't someone talk to me?

Suddenly, a man in a wrinkled suit comes out of an office and starts walking towards me. He looks scary. "Hello." He says. "I understand your name is Presely." I told him yes, and then I asked him, "What did I do? Are you going to put me in jail? I try to be a good girl. Where are my mom and dad? I want to go home!" I can't help but scream and cry now.

"Calm down Presely," he says. "You're not in trouble. But I need to talk to you about your parents." I'm really scared now. "Where are my mom and dad? I want to talk to them." He says, "I know you do but let me talk to you, ok?" All I could do was nod my head yes. He starts talking again, "My name is Inspector Harris. We had to go to your house this morning because your neighbors heard screaming from inside your house." My heart starts beating really hard and I feel sick to my stomach. "Are my mom and dad okay?" I ask. The inspector looks at me and says, "No, Presely. Somebody hurt them really bad and that's why you are here."

"NO! You're lying! Nobody would hurt them! Everybody likes my parents." "Ok," he says. "But maybe one of your neighbors suddenly got mad about something. Do you remember of your dad ever fighting with someone, or if your mom might have had a disagreement with someone?" "No." I said. "We always go to church and they would help people out if they need it." Inspector Harris smiles at me and says, "That's good to know. So let's talk about this morning. Your parents took you to school, right?" I nod my head yes. "Did you notice anybody that you don't know hanging around your house or when you got to school?" I tell him no. I'm starting to get really upset again. "Why do you keep asking me these questions? I want to go home! I want my mom and dad, where are they?"

"I'm sorry Presely. I know this must be hard for you. I have to tell you something that you won't want to hear." He looks down at the floor and he doesn't say anything for a while. My heart is pounding, my head hurts and I'm starting to get really mad now. I start to scream, "What do you have to tell me?" He slowly looks up at me and sadly says, "Someone broke into your house this morning and hurt your parents. And then whoever it was set fire to your house. I'm so sorry Presely, but your parents were killed." I feel so sick. This can't be happening. We were going to have birthday cake when I got home today. No, they can't be dead. All of these things are screaming in my head.

But it's not in my head, I hear someone screaming. Inspector Harris is trying to talk to me but I can't hear him. Somebody tell whoever is screaming, to stop it. Suddenly Inspector Harris takes me by the shoulders and I realize that I'm the one who's screaming. Now, everything goes dark. This has to be a bad dream. This isn't real. It's my birthday; mommy and daddy will wake me up and sing the happy birthday song.

I open my eyes and I'm still at the police station. I see Inspector Harris sitting beside me. I start to cry again. He tells me that he has more to talk about. I don't want to hear anything else. But he keeps talking; "Presely, I'm afraid that we don't know if you have any family that we can call for you. All we know is that your parents didn't have brothers or sisters or any other close relatives. And we found out that you are adopted." What? I'm so confused. "That means you aren't your parent's real daughter." I look at him and say, "Of course I'm real. They are my mom and dad." He says, "I'm sorry, that's not exactly what I meant to say. It's just that your parents had to go to court and have a judge tell them that you could be their daughter. Because when you were born, it was someone else who gave you away to them."

I think I understand but I'm still a little confused. Inspector Harris goes on to tell me that there is no one that I can stay with and that they have to take me to a "foster home". I'm not sure what that is, but I'm starting to understand that I don't have a family. I never really did I guess. The people I thought were my family is gone now. Inspector Harris is still talking to me but he sounds so far away. Everything is going dark again and I don't care. The darkness is where I want to be right now.


	3. Mischief

**A/N: This chapter is much lighter and fun than the last. I wanted to get this in before we head in to some dark stuff. Just warning you now!**

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It's been two years to the day that my life crumbled into nothing. Everyone says I'm way too mature and dark for only 8 years old, but what do you expect? You can't have the people who you thought were your parents turn out to not be your parents on the same day they were murdered and come out to be the same sweet and innocent little girl. It just doesn't work that way.

It's probably the fact that now I'm very anti-social and that my adopted parents were murdered that nobody wants to foster me or adopt me again. They probably think that I did it. I have no idea where they came up with that idiotic idea. I loved my parents even if they weren't really my parents. Plus, I was only 6 years old. What 6 year old kills their parents like that? I mean, seriously! People are so stupid, I swear.

I've been stuck here at Devonshire, a group house for foster kids when they are just put in the system and are waiting for a foster family to take them in or adopt them since I learned of my parents. Most of the kids that come through here are out within days to months, and I haven't been placed in a single home. Like I said, nobody wants a kid like me. Thankfully, I do have a couple of friends here. One is a blonde girl named Brandi who is my age. Nobody seems to want to take her in either, but I don't understand that one. She's a lot cuter and sweeter than I am and she's only here because they took her away from her mom who is a drug addict. She became a ward of the state when her mom got sentenced to 3 years in prison and rehab. She's been here about a year now. My other friend is less conventional because he's one of the orderlies or guardians of this place. I'm not sure what you'd call him, but he is one of the adults around here. His name is Jerry. He's always been super nice to me, so I trust him.

I'm sitting here at my desk here staring at my homework, just deep in thought. I do this a lot. I don't see the point in doing this homework. I learn everything I need to know in class. This whole "practice at home" stuff is pure crap. If you can't learn it in class, fine, but I'm not one of them. You show me once or twice and I get it. I'm not stupid like some of these other kids. I'm starting to get really angry and frustrated when I'm shocked out of my reverie by a giant hug from Brandi.

"Hey, get out of the dumps there! You're not allowed! It's your birthday!" she says loudly in my ear. "So what?" I reply. "It's just another reminder of how messed up my life has become in the last two years, and I really don't need that."

"What'd I just tell you? Come on! I got a surprise for you!" she says as she grabs my hand and drags me out of my chair. She makes me follow her into the cafeteria where I see she managed to sweet talk one of the cafeteria people to save us a couple slices of pepperoni pizza with olives. Both of our favorites. She also managed to get a couple slices of chocolate cake and ice cream. Score! I just stare at the table since everyone else is off watching a movie right now and tears fill my eyes. "Wow. This is the nicest thing anybody has ever done for me in such a long time. Thank you!"

Brandi just gives me a big smile and hops over to the table and starts digging in. I follow about three steps behind her and every bite of everything here is absolute heaven. We eat everything in silence because we technically aren't supposed to be here right now, but I see Jerry down the hall keeping a lookout. Looks like Brandi got him in on this, too. We finally finish the treats, throw out our trash, and hustle back to our dorms before we get caught.

I go back at my desk in a much better mood, getting ready to finish off this joke called homework when she hugs me again. "Just skip it," Brandi says. "I know you hate this junk and it's not like you don't already know it, so why not just blow it off?" "Because I know that I have to and if I don't I'll get in trouble at school and here," I reply. "So what? Sometimes it's not a bad thing to get into trouble as long as what you got into trouble for is something that makes you happy or makes you feel better."

I decide she's right and throw it all in the trash. Screw this homework. I'm not doing it anymore. I think it's about time that I do something to make me happy. "It's about time!" Brandi squeals and jumps. Let's go find something fun to do!" I follow her as she runs out the room. Time to have some fun.


	4. Broken

**A/N: Well, here it is. The chapter I warned you about last week. I will warn you again. It is very harsh, but I feel that it's necessary for her character development. Before I let you go to read on, I just wanted to let you all know that I may not be able to post a new chapter by next week and there are two reasons why. One, I have an idea for the next chapter, but I'm not quite sure where I want to go with it just yet. Second, I sprained my wrist pretty badly a couple weeks ago and it's REALLY hard to type with a brace on, so I've been slowed down quite a bit by that. So, anyway, I'll update when I can. I hope you all somewhat enjoy this chapter. Please leave me a review and let me know.**

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I can't seem to please anybody anymore. And you know what? I really don't care. It's been two more years here at Devonshire and I still have yet to be fostered out to another family. Brandi hasn't been fostered out, either. But she's fine because she's getting to go home with her mom next week. I guess she successfully served her sentence and completed a drug rehab program and the courts said that she could take her back. Must be nice to have at least one person want you.

Jerry's still here and he's still nice to me, but he's started to change around me. I don't know what his deal is. Maybe the problem is mine because I've stopped doing homework and am almost always getting into trouble with the staff here because I won't do what they tell me to do anymore. Oh well. I don't really care. As soon as Brandi leaves, I'll be alone again and things will just go back to being hell around here.

The rest of the house is out on a movie trip and I'm sitting at my desk, as per my usual, just deep in thought about all of these things. Going to be alone. Again. No friends. No family. Just me. And nobody cares. I don't even notice that Brandi has come into the dorm room and is sitting on the bed staring at me. It's a good thing I don't notice because I absolutely despise being stared at. It's so creepy.

"Hey," she finally says, making me jump out of my seat. "Shit! I didn't see you there. When you'd come in?" I ask. "Oh, about five minutes ago. Been sitting here doing that thing you hate the most," she responds. "You mean you sat there and just stared at me for five minutes, didn't say anything, and I just didn't notice you?!" I ask incredulously. "Yep," she says. "Looks like you're thinking too much about things again. You have got to stop with that shit. It's gonna drive you more insane than you already are."

I sit back down. "Yeah. You're probably right. As usual. I just can't believe you're leaving me next week, is all. Ever since my so-called parents died, you've been the only one to actually sit and talk with me, let alone be my friend. And you're leaving. I don't know how to handle this, is all."

"Well," Brandi starts to say, "instead of sitting there and moping about me leaving, why don't you just remember all the hell we've created here together and keep going on with it, make yourself some new memories of some new hell for others." I can't help but chuckle at this. "It's not like I wasn't already planning to do this. They make my life a living hell and I do definitely plan on returning the favor. No, I'm talking about the alone factor. I have nobody else like you do."

After I finish talking, she grabs my hand and drags me over to sit next to her and she brushes my now grown out bangs behind my ears. "My mom always told me that you'll never be alone as long as you have intimate memories with someone. She says that every time her and one of her boyfriends break up. I never did understand that until I saw her last break up. What was his name? Oh yeah. Sean. Yeah, I saw her and Sean being intimate and I finally understood what she meant because they broke up like two days later."

"I don't get your mom," I respond. "I've never met the woman. I probably won't even see her when she comes to take you back home." Brandi just smiles at me and says, "Well, I can just show you. Sometimes it's just easier to demonstrate than it is to try to explain." I just raise my eyebrow to her at this because I'm just so confused. Next thing I know, her lips are on mine. I pull away, "What in the hell do you think you're doing?" I yell. "I was showing you like I said I was going to do. Don't you think I'm not going to hurt leaving my best friend behind? I want to make memories with you before I leave, so just shut up and do this with me!"

At this point, she pushes me down and kisses me some more. I don't understand what's going on. Next thing I know, she's touching me in places I know definitely aren't okay. Especially since we're both only ten years old. I silently start to cry as she continues her assault on my mind and soul.

It's been two weeks since that fateful day with Brandi. She finally left last week. I was actually so relieved to see her leave. I thought I was going to be sad, but then she did what she did and it was nothing but weird and wrong. I tried to stay away from her as much as I could, but since we shared a dorm, that was near to impossible. I actually started doing my homework again just to try to escape from talking or anything else. Jerry noticed something is wrong with me, but he hasn't talked to me about it. I'm perfectly fine with that. I don't think I want to talk about that to anybody. It was wrong and I know that it was my fault.

I try to shake the tears from my eyes. Dammit. I'm crying again. I hate crying. That shit don't solve nothing. I also don't want to have tears staining these math problems. Don't want teachers to know, either. I hear footsteps behind me, but I don't want to turn around. I don't want anybody to see me being weak. Not again. I also don't know who it is. The rest of the house is out at the zoo this time. Some nonsense about good behavior that I wasn't invited to. I feel a hand on my shoulder and hear Jerry's voice saying, "Okay, Pres. You've been a ghost of yourself for the last several days. What's wrong with you? Talk to me."

This breaks down the floodgates and I start sobbing. "Alright. Now I know something is seriously wrong. You never cry. Spill," Jerry says to me. I finally break down and tell him everything that happened two weeks ago and I just sob through every word and he stares at me in disbelief. As soon as I finish, that disbelief quickly turns to outright fury. He stands up, scoffs, turns around, scoffs again, then turns to look at me as he rubs his hand across his face. Before I can even calm myself down from finally revealing what happened, I feel the back of his hand slap me so hard, my head almost does a complete 180 on my shoulders. I rise my hand to cover my cheek to try to take away some of the sting. I can't believe he just backhanded me. He's never hit me before!

I slowly turn around to face him and he doesn't even look like Jerry anymore. He has his face, but this isn't my friend and caretaker anymore. He grabs me by the shoulders and stands me up and hits me across my left cheek this time, but just as hard. He crouches down and stares me in the face. "What? You don't think that I didn't know what you two little sluts did? I saw you and the other bitch pretending to be adults. Now that you've told me everything, I also know that you're a squealer and I can't have none of that, now can I?" he asks me.

I start crying again. I don't understand what he's talking about. He's getting red in the face now. Oh shit. What'd I do now? I knew it was wrong to begin with, but I didn't think I deserved this. He stands up straight again. "You're going to learn to not talk when you decide to do adult things. Since you think you're an adult now, I'm going to show you what it's like to be an adult!" He shouts and strikes me across the face again then pushes me onto the bed. He gets on top of me just like Brandi was. Oh no. Not again. Not him, too. What is so wrong with me that this keeps happening? He's kissing my neck. I just let the tears silently fall from my eyes as I try to shut my brain off from what's about to happen. I want to go back to that safe, dark place.


	5. Searching

**A/N: Alright, here's the next chapter. This is considerably lighter than the last one. I know it was harsh, but as I said, I felt it was necessary for her character development and where this story is going to end up. There are about 3 chapters left of "filler" chapters for her as a character and then the Charmed Ones will be coming back in and we can get back to the fun supernatural parts. So anyway, please enjoy the chapter, and as always, please review and let me know what you think. Just no flamers, though. Flamers will be doused with water.**

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It's been three years of absolute misery since Jerry started a relationship with me. At least that's what he calls it. I don't know what I'd call it, but I do know that I hate myself and my life more and more as time goes by. I don't know what I did that was so wrong to deserve everything that's happened over the last seven years. First my adoptive parents are murdered, then I'm sent to the hell called Devonshire, and get raped repeatedly by people who I thought were my friends. Seriously, I'm so fucking over this shit already. If I thought for a second that an afterlife would be better, I would commit suicide right now.

As it stands, an afterlife would probably be just as miserable as this one and I keep stupidly holding onto this hope that things just MIGHT get better. Like, maybe Jerry will get fired or get tired of me and leave. Maybe some family will take pity on me and foster me out of here. Maybe I'll wake up and find out all of this was just a horrible nightmare that my seriously messed up mind created. I don't know. SOMETHING! I don't know why I keep holding onto these stupid hopes. I should know better by now. Every time I think something better is happening, look at what happens right after?

Right now I'm at school, staring blankly at my textbook. At least I'm safe here. Granted, I really don't like the people here at school either, but they don't beat or rape me, so I guess that makes them okay for now.

I hear the bell in the distance of my scattered and tortured thoughts. Guess it's time for lunch now. I shut the textbook and gather the rest of my things. I get up and start making my way over to my locker to put my things away so I can go have some lunch. That's when they approach me. A group of three girls and a couple of guys, all dressed in black with black nail polish and ridiculous hairstyles. The emo kids.

"Hey," the girl in front says to me. I guess she's the leader. "Yes, how can I help you today?" I oh-so-smartly reply.

"I'm Rae, that's Charlie, that's Ryan, that's Keisha, and that's Sam," she says as she points to everybody. "Listen, we've been watching you for a while now and all of us agree that while you most certainly dress the part of a tortured soul like we do, you're definitely one of us. You stare into space with a miserable look on your face and the stupid adults couldn't care less about you or your misery. By default, that makes you like us. We want you to hang out with us over lunch and again after school today. You know, initiate you in. Show you a couple tricks on how to deal with all the shit you are obviously going through that nobody else is gonna help you with."

"Thanks, but I don't do friends anymore," I reply with venom and slam my locker shut and turn to walk away. Rae grabs my arm and says, "Trust me, we don't do friends anymore. Friends are people and people hurt you. That's why we're just a group who hangs out to relieve some of that pain from time to time. Which is why we're inviting you. You want to shove that in our faces, fine. But don't say I didn't offer."

She lets go and turns to walk off to the cafeteria for lunch. Could this be that one small hope I've been waiting for? Don't know if you don't try, I guess. "Wait up!" I call out and run to catch up with them. I didn't see that smile cross Rae's face as I ran.

School's over now. Lunch went really well. I actually get along really well with my not-friends and think that this just might be what I've been waiting for. I do get the distinct impression that they all have issues and pain and hanging out with them when they unburden themselves of that pain will actually help me. Hell, nothing else has helped, so this is bound to!

We all meet out front and head out to Jackson Park. I heard this park used to be the jewel of the county, but now it's just a dump for drug deals and all other kinds of illegal activities. Rea reaches underneath the slide and pulls out a bottle of Jim Beam whiskey. "Nabbed this from my mom's liquor cabinet. Now, it's time to finalize your initiation into our decompression exercises. Don't worry, I know you're ready. I wouldn't have invited you if I didn't think you were," she finishes as she opens the bottle and takes a big swallow. She hands it to me.

I hold onto this bottle and I just stare. Alcohol. Booze. Could it be that this is what could help save me? Is this what I've been waiting so long to find? Is this my escape from my existence? I guess I'm confused. How is a bottle of really nasty looking and horrible smelling liquid supposed to help? I look around at the group around me. They're watching me. Waiting for me to do the same thing that Rae did so that they can take their turns.

Rae pulls out a pack of Marlboro cigarettes from her pocket along with a red lighter. She carefully lights it and takes a big drag from it and hands everything off to everybody else so they can smoke, too. She hands me hers, smirks and says, "Here. Take it. Trust me, it helps it go down a bit easier. Especially the first time around." I carefully maneuver my fingers around the butt of the cigarette just like she had it. I put it to my lips and gently inhale.

The smoke fills my lungs and I cough, but I also feel a little lightheaded, too. I actually kind of like how it feels, so I take another drag and hold it in for a few seconds before I slowly exhale and a smile begins to cover my face. Rae reaches out and takes her cigarette back. "Told you. Now, take a drink and finish your pain-free transformation," she tells me.

I take a deep breath and bring the bottle to my mouth. This stuff seems worse than the cigarette, but she was right about that, so I know she's right about this too. I tip my head back and allow the whiskey into my mouth until it's full. It tastes so awful! I hold it in my mouth. I don't want to swallow this because it tastes so bad. I can only imagine how it'll be once it gets down to my stomach. I look around and everybody is chuckling as my discomfort. "Just swallow it and you'll feel better, I'm telling you," Rae laughs.

I look at her and go ahead to open my throat to swallow. It burns all the way down into my stomach. Rae lights a cigarette for me and hands it to me. I take a slow drag, hoping the smoke with erase the horrible taste out of my mouth and make the burning stop. As I stand there with my stomach burning, I feel it turn into a weird tingling feeling that spreads to all the muscles in my body and I feel them turn into mush. Now my body feels warm and complete, so I smile.

Rae chuckles lightly and says, "See? What'd I tell you? All the pain goes away with all this stuff," as she hands me the bottle again now that everybody else has had a turn. I take another large shot and feel the peace and freedom spread even further in my body as my head starts to flow away from me. Yes. This is what I've been searching for all this time.


	6. Developments

**A/N: Sorry for a longer than usual delay. Tons going on right now, so updates are definitely going to slow a bit. But, I do have this ready to go for you all and I do hope you enjoy it. All reviews appreciated!**

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I've been drinking and smoking pretty heavily with Rae and all my other non-friends. They were definitely right about releasing the pain with this stuff. I found that the more I drink, the less I can feel it when Jerry hits me and then takes over my body again. In some ways I wish I didn't have to do all these things to lessen the pain, but fuck it. I really don't care anymore. Why should I? Nobody else does.

I finally turned into a so-called woman about two years ago, at least that's what the nurse at the foster home told me when I ran to her afraid that Jerry went way too far when I started bleeding profusely, so I went to her hoping that I was finally going to die. No such luck. Just growing up, she says. I guess that's good because I didn't know how to tell her it happened anyway, so she just dismissed me after she explained a couple of things to me, gave me some stupid brochure, and sent me on my way. I think the fact that I'm drinking so much and getting a bit of a "beer belly" is why they finally stopped. Thank god, because that shit hurts like hell and I hate it with every fiber of my being.

I smoked and drank a lot tonight and I'm feeling better, if not a little nauseous to my stomach. Oh well. Better than the other shit I keep having to put up with. I get back to Devonshire and Jerry is waiting for me just outside my dorm room. Thanks to him, I have a private room now. I like it in the fact that I have a little privacy, but I also hate that privacy because now Jerry can do what he wants, when he wants with me and he doesn't have to wait for everyone else to go on those dumb group outings and I'm forced to stay behind because I'm "acting up" again.

Well. I guess here goes nothing. I swallow and take a deep breath in and walk towards my room, trying to hide my hatred and disgust, not to mention the fact that I am drunk again. I did find that not only did what Jerry did to me on a daily basis not hurt as much, he still beat me all the harder for it because he prefers me to be sober. The fact that I keep doing it shows him that this is the one thing I won't let him take from me and it just becomes a full circle because the more he does it, the more I do what I do. "If you don't mind, I'd really rather just go to bed tonight, Jerry. I'm tired and it's a school night. Plus, my stomach is upset again."

Jerry just scoffs in my face. "Yeah, I'm sure it is. Listen, I think we need to talk," he says as he steps into my room. I follow and he closes the door behind us. Damnit. I was really hoping to avoid this tonight.

"What is it, Jerry? I told you, I'm tired, don't feel well, and want to sleep."

"Okay, you're pissing me off and I'm trying to be nice here. I told you all I want to do is talk to you. If you can do that long enough, I will let you sleep. You keep pissing me off, I"ll make you wish that you hadn't," he says to me rather angrily and gets in my face.

I know he means business. I've learned the hard way more than once already and to be honest, I'm really not in the mood to stand up for myself tonight like I usually do. I just really don't feel that great this time around. "Fine," I say. "What is it? I'm listening."

"Good. Maybe I finally knocked a little bit of sense into you. Now, have a seat," he says, gesturing to my desk. Thank god it's my desk. Maybe he really does just want to talk this time. I walk over to my chair and sit down, crossing my arms across my chest. Damn, my boobs hurt again. They haven't hurt like this since they started growing about five or six years ago. Hard to keep track anymore. I mostly just count down the years until I'm out of this place and get away as far as I can.

I look him in the face, waiting for him to talk. He's pacing the floor and running his hand through his hair. Well something's certainly got him going.

Finally, he says, "Look, I know I'm not the nicest person to you and I do know that you deserve more. Especially since you're still only 16 right now. And I also know that in the last ten years that we have been together have been more enjoyable to me than to you. You were too young when I started our relationship and the fact that I keep beating you to keep you in line isn't really fair. I'll be honest and say that everything we do together gives me immense pleasure, and in my own sick little way, I do love you. I've watched you grow from a cute little girl to a beautiful young lady. It's your beauty that drew me to start our relationship and it was out of fear that I kept hurting you every time we made love because I know that my love for you is wrong." He stops to take a deep breath and starts pacing again.

Wow. He's almost like the Jerry I knew when I was just a little kid here. What the hell has gotten into him? Why is he telling me that I deserve more and that he loves me? Is he bipolar or something? He threatens to beat me again to get me to listen and then he's actually being nice and saying this weird stuff. I seriously don't get this and the confusion is not helping my nausea nor my headache. I think I'm going to end up seriously hungover tomorrow.

"Okay," he takes another deep breath and starts talking some more. "I'm sure that what I just said is maybe going over your head since you're drunk again. But don't think for a second that I don't know why you keep doing it and why it keeps getting worse, but I think that it's time you stop it and that is why I'm going to be the bigger man here. You're obviously way too young and way too stupid to figure things out by yourself." He pulls a box out of his pocket and hands it to me.

"A pregnancy test?" I ask him incredulously. "What the hell do I need a pregnancy test for? Only married people have kids."

He stares at me, dumbfounded. Then he starts laughing really hard. "Wow," he says in between bursts of laughs, "You really are messed up or you are really just that stupid. Where did you get such a stupid idea like that?" he asks as he sets the box on my desk.

"That's what my mom said once. That when a man and a woman fall in love, they get married, and then they have kids," I say as a tear drops down my face. Man, I really miss my mom. Hell, I just miss having a woman to talk to. All Jerry ever does is bring me down. Even when he's supposedly being nice, he's talking down to me. I'm sixteen now and he still treats me like a retarded kid.

He finally stops laughing. "Okay. Now stop you're crying. I'm so over it already. Look, that was something your mom said when you were really little. Has nobody ever explained to you that marriage has nothing to do with making babies?" I just shake my head no to him. "Okay. Well, it doesn't. It's just sex that makes babies. Plenty of couples, such as you and me, who have sex outside of marriage can have kids. And since I obviously know more and pay more attention than you do, I'm thinking your pregnant now. Know why? You haven't had a period in two months. I haven't had to stop making love with you in 9 weeks. Big red flag there. Then there's the fact that your boobs hurt. Seeing as I never harm your beautiful chest, I'm pretty sure that it's not my fault there. And you're constantly puking in the morning. Even on days that you don't drink yourself even more stupid and sick. Are you finally starting to get the picture here?"

I'm just too stunned to think clearly. He is right about one thing, though. I do drink a lot and I'm not quite as bright as I usually am when I'm drunk. I think back on everything he just said. He's right about everything else, too. I'm puking all the time, my boobs are constantly killing me, and even though I don't bother tracking my periods, it has been a while since I had one. "Yeah," I finally say. "I get the picture. You're right, it all makes sense now. And my pants are getting tight. I thought it was just a beer belly or something."

"Yeah, you really are so fucking stupid," he says as he approaches me and crouches down to hold my hands that are now in my lap. "Listen, I honestly don't care if you've been with anybody else like you have me because as of right now, it's not going to be my business. You won't be my business. I'm quitting here at Devonshire and going somewhere else and you probably won't see me again. I already put in my notice a couple weeks ago that I'm leaving. As far as I'm concerned, you're dead, and if you are pregnant, it's most definitely not mine. It's yours. You created this mess for yourself. Now, take that test in the morning after you've had some time to sober up a bit. I'm sure you'll need to piss like a racehorse anyway. Then you can do whatever you want. It's not my problem."

With that said, he gets up and walks out the door and leaves me to my thoughts. Is he really gone? Can my years of suffering at his hands finally be over? Am I really pregnant? What will I do if I am? He just left me and cut all ties. I'm dead to him now that he thinks I'm with child. I know that that's the real reason he left me. I'm not as naive as he would like to believe. He just wanted to get out and get away before someone found out that the baby was his and the product of years of rape and abuse. That's okay, though. I wouldn't want him near my child anyway. He'd probably do the same thing to it as he did to me. I rub my belly and make my way over to my bed. I turn off the light and get under the blankets and fall into a very deep sleep.

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**Oops. Left you with a little bit of a cliffhanger! Yes, I fastforwarded Jerry's torture a lot. Trust me, there are plans and this is actually a large part of her character development and it is going to be crazy long, so I'm breaking it up a bit. This looked like a good spot to make the first cut to give you all some food for thought.**

**Also, I wanted to make a few shout outs to some fellow authors and some awesome stories. **

**The first story I do actually to help beta. I take absolutely no credit on the work or the plot line, I just help out a little bit. Please check out "Predicted Fate" by yellint22. It's an awesome story.**

**Next is "Path to Power" by IfIQuitNowTheyWin. It's a Harry Potter fan fic that is absolutely amazing. Yes, I do help to beta on that one as well, but I again take absolutely no credit for her work. She's amazing, so you should go check her out.**

**Last, but not least, is just an author shout out. She actually just finished a story and is working on several more. She's awesome and I do not beta her work. I just rave about them. Please check out all of Adere's works. Trust me, if you like LotR, you'll love her.**

**Okay, done with my shout outs. Until next chapter!**


	7. Decisions

**A/N: Sorry for the long update after leaving a bit of a cliffhanger last time. Like I said, life is insane right now. But, here's the next chapter for you. Little bit less of a cliffhanger, though. Also, since I've been working on the next chapter, I've decided that this part of her story needs to be cut into 4 sections instead of the 3 I thought it was going to be and that's because the next one is already super long and I have been trying to keep it short. It's anything but short, though. Trust me. And since nobody has complained that the chapters are too short, I'm assuming the length is perfect for you, my readers. Okay. Done rambling. On with the story. Enjoy, and as always, PLEASE REVIEW!**

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I woke up the next morning with a pounding headache but a gladder heart. Jerry was gone. Sure, I was probably pregnant, but he's gone. It's finally over. I slowly sit up in my bed and just sit there with my feet on the floor while I wake up a little bit more. Today is Saturday, so there's no school today. Thank god. I wouldn't be going with this headache anyway. My bladder is starting to get upset now, so I get up, grab the pregnancy test that Jerry gave me, and I head for my bathroom.

I get in there and lock the door. I take a deep breath and open the box and read the instructions. I can't help but wonder who the hell thought up the idea for these things. Peeing on this weird stick thingie and it tells you if you're pregnant or not. Talk about weird. So, I go to the bathroom and pee on the stick. I put the cap back on and set it on the sink to do its processing while I wash my hands and my face. I think I should take a shower, too. My own scent is making my stomach turn now. I go ahead and undress and get in the shower. I wash my hair and my body as fast as I can. I don't want to be in here too long. I want to see what the stick says.

I hurry up and finish and get out and dry off. I lean over the sink to look at the pregnancy test. It has two pink lines on it. I look at the instructions again to see what that means. Pregnant. I'm pregnant. At 16 years old. My child is a product of years of rape. And the father just walked off. I sit on the toilet seat and just stare. I didn't honestly think it was possible. I was just doing what I was told taking this test and to know that I'm actually pregnant is incomprehensible to me at this point. I don't even know what I'm going to do. I'm stuck here at this stupid foster home where nobody will foster me or adopt me and I'm pregnant. What will happen to the baby?

These are questions that I can't answer in this room, I finally decide. I get up, toss the box in the trash, and go back to my room and get dressed. I seriously do not have anybody I can talk to in this hell hole, but my next best bet will probably be the nurse. She tends to shoo me away, but she can't when I show her the pregnancy test. She'll be forced to listen then, I'm pretty sure.

I tuck the test into my pocket and start walking out towards her office. She's mostly just around to give us Tylenol when we have a headache, but the least she can do is point me in the direction of someone who might help me answer all my questions. And I don't have to answer theirs. They never asked before, so if they decide to start now, I won't divulge. They lost their right to know who the father is when they didn't save me from him.

I finally get to her office and she's just sitting at her desk and reading a book. I knock on the door frame to get her to pay attention to the fact that I'm here. She just sighs as she closes the book and says, "Preseley. I'm going to guess that you have another headache and are just here bothering me to get some pain reliever, right?"

I just smirk at her and say, "While I do have a headache again, actually I'm here to ask for your help on something I found this morning."

"Alright, fine. What is it?" She asks me as I pull the pregnancy test out of my pocket and hand it over to her.

"I'm hoping that you know how those things work. I took it this morning and got those two pink lines, which according to the instructions, says that I have a baby inside of me. Obviously, I don't know what to do at this point since nobody has bothered to help me with anything, let alone something this big," I say as a look of shock and disappointment crosses over her face.

"Alright, Preseley. Have a seat. I'll be right back," she says as she sets my test down on her desk and she gets up and leaves the room. I sit in the chair in the corner of the office and wait for her to come back. I figure I waited about five minutes before she comes back with the site director. Shit. I forgot he only comes by on Saturday and she just had to go and get him. Guess I'm in for a lecture or something now. Maybe I'm getting kicked out. One can only hope.

The nurse sits back down at her desk while the director closes the door behind them and she hands him my pregnancy test. He just looks at it and pulls up another chair and sits right by the door so no one can leave or enter.

"Alright, Nancy here tells me that you told her that you took a pregnancy test this morning and it came back positive, which I can see that here. Preseley, I'm not going to mince words with you here. You've been one of our worst tenants here. Constantly acting out when we've gone out of our way to provide you comfort and perhaps a semblance of happiness. We provided you with your own private suite at Jerry's suggestion that it might make you happier and to help you not act out so much since you wouldn't be around the other tenants here. Now, Jerry has left our staff to move on to other places and now I can't help but think that he was wrong coddling you so much. You go and spit our kindness back at us by constantly breaking curfew to go out and party with friends and now this. I've gotta tell you, Preseley, if it weren't for the fact that you are still a minor and we are a government facility, we would be kicking you out onto the streets right now so that your mere presence wouldn't be affecting the younger ones here. As it is, we are a government facility and unless we can find somewhere else for you, here is where you're staying. So, this is going to be how it goes from now on. You will be here at least an hour before curfew and in your room, away from everyone else. No one but the staff is to know of your pregnancy. And once you come to term and give birth, you will be considered an emancipated minor by the state and we are free to release you. It is at that point, Presely, that we will decide if we want to continue our kindness and let you stay with your child, or if it is time for you to grow up and be an adult with the rest of us, or a mixture of both. It will really depend on how much you shape up from this, which I admit to really hoping is an eye-opening experience for you and for everyone else. Is that understood?"

A lecture. It figures. And, of course, they don't bother to ask when it happened or by who. Needless to say, I'm not surprised by their blindness. "Yes, sir. Understood," I reply, seething on the inside. They seriously never let me talk more than to just agree here. Learned that long ago.

"Good. On Monday, I want you to return here where yourself and Nancy will set up your first appointment for the pregnancy. You are to follow all doctor's orders. Which, of course, will include your immediate cessation of your drinking and smoking habits. You got that?"

"Yes, sir. I will be sure to take care of all of this as requested," I say again. I might as well stroke his ego. I'm not going to drink or smoke anymore. I'm pregnant. I'm a mom. And I won't be leaving my baby to the same existence I've led.


	8. Doctor Visit

**A/N: Here it is. The third part. Pretty long! The fourth part is twice as long as this one, I will warn you guys now. I didn't want to have to cut it into a fifth part for one, and for another, I couldn't find a good spot to cut it up. This chapter is definitely nothing but filler, but I do promise that this is important. I'm also one of those writers who likes to try to stay at least one chapter ahead so that my beta(s) can have time to go over everything in between my writing spurts, but there is some news for you guys. My beta who has been working the last few chapters decided to be absolutely wonderful and she's already given her seal of approval for the next chapter. That's right. It's written and proofed and ready to go. And it's what you guys have been waiting for! I'm thinking that I am so excited for this next part, that if I get enough persuasion from my readers, I'll go ahead and break my own chapter ahead rule for you and publish it before I have the next chapter written and submitted to my beta for proofing. It's up to you guys! Let me know! Enjoy!**

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It's finally Monday. I'm actually excited about this now. I'll finally have a family again. Granted, it's not an ideal thing, but family's family. I go to the nurse's office to get all of this stuff set up. She's supposed to call the doctor, let them know of my situation and that I really don't have a legal guardian so I can go in without any problems.

I walk in and she's already on the phone. Good. Hopefully this'll be quick and they'll get me in fast. I want to get this started. I have a seat on the other side of the office and I hear her say, "That will work. Thank you," as she hangs up.

"Alright, Preseley. I have your appointment set up for you. I told them that you're under our care and don't have a foster family that would be willing to sign over the guardianship papers, so they're going to fax over all of that information to me for me to fill out for you so that they'll take care of you. They had an opening this afternoon at 3:30 and want to see you then. They mentioned that because of your age and past behaviors that this will probably wind up being a high risk pregnancy, so you better follow all the advice they give you. Not just for your sake, but the innocent life you're carrying."

"Yes, ma'am. I promise that I will," I respond to her. Of course I will. It's family. Duh.

"Alright, Pres. Get going to school. I'll call them up so they know that you're leaving early today and you don't get in trouble for cutting again. You need to leave there by 2:45 so that you can take the bus over," she says as she hands over a piece of paper with some writing on it. "That is the information on where they are and who you're seeing. That should be all you need after I fax them back that paperwork."

"Okay. Thank you. I'll get going, then," I say as I quickly read the note and stand up to leave. Doctor Roberts. Interesting. I head out of her office and start heading out to go to school for the day.

This day could not get any slower, I swear. It's finally 2:30 and I get to leave in 15 minutes, but this day has dragged on and on into eternity. I guess it's because I'm so excited for my first doctor visit for the baby. And I don't remember being this excited in years. I can barely sit still. Everyone probably thinks I'm nuts, but whatever. I really don't care. I'm way too happy to finally have a family again. Even if the only other part of my family is like a half inch big or whatever. I actually don't know how big it is yet. Hopefully they do an ultrasound today, too, so I can see it.

Okay. Five minutes left. Come on. Hurry up. I want to get going already. I stare at the clock and watch the seconds count down. 5...4...3...2...1. FINALLY! I gather my things at get up to leave. The teacher knew I was leaving, so they just nod at me as I leave to acknowledge the fact that I'm out of here. I quickly walk to my locker, grab all my books and things that I'll need and continue to walk as fast as I can over to the bus stop to get over to the doctor's office.

I get to the bus stop and only have to wait a minute or two before it shows up. This has got to be a first. The bus is actually running on time for something that I actually want to be present for. I quickly get on-board and put my card in the reader and find a seat. This office is halfway across town, so it will take about a half hour or so to get there with all the stops buses have to make. Might as well get comfortable and try to enjoy the ride since I'm finally on my way.

I just sit and watch the view go by as the bus makes its way around and makes its stops, letting people off and others getting on. Before I know it, it's finally my stop and I get off. I still have to walk a block or so to get there, but I'm here. I'm so excited that it's finally time. I walk in the office and it looks pretty much exactly the same as any other doctor's office. White walls and pictures all over them. People sitting in chairs, waiting. Receptionists behind the desk. Yep, definitely the usual.

I walk up to the receptionist and as I step up she asks, "Can I help you?" "Yes," I reply. I have an appointment at 3:30 today. My name is Preseley and I live at Devonshire. The nurse there called this morning and made the appointment for me and said she was going to fax back some paperwork for you."

"Oh yes. Presely. I remember that call this morning. She did fax back over everything that we will need to cover your care as a pregnant minor. There are some forms that we still need you to fill out, however," she says as she grabs some papers and clip them onto a clipboard and grabs a pen. "Some basic information about your health and that you as well consent to your care here. Just fill them out and bring them back up here when you're done, okay?"

"Alright," I say as I take the clipboard and pen from her. I walk over to one of the chairs and start filling everything else that they need out. Like she said, it's all very basic; Name, date of birth, allergies, any major medical problems, smoking and drinking habits. Junk like that. I quickly go through everything and go back to the desk and hand in the paperwork.

"Thank you," the receptionist says to me as she takes it all back. "I'll get all this put in and the nurse will be here to take you back here in just a few minutes, okay?"

I just nod and go sit back down. I just try to avoid people's gaze. I know what they're thinking. What is someone so young doing at a baby doctor place? I really don't care. They don't know who I am or what I've been through. If they want to judge, they should put themselves in my shoes. Then maybe they'd understand. I know it'd never happen, but it just pisses me off when people think it's okay to judge me based off of something they only partially know.

I sit there and try my best to keep to myself for about five more minutes when I hear my name being called. It's the nurse calling me back. Thank god, I can get out of this waiting room and go somewhere private. I follow her into a room about halfway through the hallways.

As we get in the nurse says, "My name is Betty and your doctor is Dr. Roberts. Seeing as this is your first visit, it will be your longest one. We just need to get some backround on you and the father so that we can best help you and the baby. We'll also do a physical exam to see about how far along you are. We'll also go ahead and take a urine and blood sample from you to test your RH and blood type as well since you were adopted and don't know about your birth parents. Does this sound like a plan to you today?"

I nod and just say, "Yes. Sounds fine." "Good. I'll go ahead and take your history here and then I'll give you a gown to get changed into for your exam. Go ahead and have a seat," she says. I turn and follow her instructions and sit in one of the chairs in the room and she sits at the desk with her clipboard and paperwork with my information on it.

She asks me a lot of questions that were on the paperwork I filled out already, so I don't know why they're asking me again. I guess to make sure that I wasn't sleeping when I filled it out. Typical. Suddenly she's asking me questions about the father. Crap. I was hoping to keep Jerry out of this. Especially since he ran off anyway.

"Okay, so, about the father. Does he have any genetic abnormalities such as Crohn's Disease, Sickle Cell Anemia, anything like that?" "Um, I don't think so. We never really talked about things like that."

"Okay. So you don't know his blood type or RH factor or anything of that nature either, then?" "No. I don't."

"Alright. But you do know who the father is, right? Would he be willing to call or come in and answer these questions? The more we know, the better it is for your baby." "I do know who the father is, and no, he won't. He disappeared as soon as he found out I was pregnant. I have no way of getting in touch with him even if I wanted to."

"Alright," she nods and makes some notes on my file. "Okay, that should be it on the backround info we need. I'll go and let the doctor know and he'll be in shortly for your physical exam and to answer any questions you might have. Just go ahead and get changed into that gown on the table there and have a seat. He should only be a few minutes, alright?"

"Okay," I reply and watch her leave the room, closing the door behind her. I get up and undress out of my regular clothes and put on the examination gown on. These things are so tacky. Not to mention uncomfortable. I go ahead and get up on to the table and sit down and wait for the doctor to come in.

I think I only waited about a couple minutes before I hear a knock on the door and it opens, bringing in an older gentleman who looks like he's around 50 or so and actually seems very nice just by looking at him. Definitely nothing like most of the men I usually have to be around. "Good afternoon, Preseley. I'm Dr. Roberts and I'll be your doctor during your pregnancy," he says as he takes a seat on the swivel chair by the desk. "How have you been feeling? Severe nausea or anything else you've been worried about since you got pregnant?"

"Nothing that seems too severe," I respond while shaking my head. "I actually haven't even been very nauseous at all. At least not since the last time I drank. I have to admit that I have no idea how far along I am because I've never really bothered to track my periods and I've been smoking and drinking pretty heavily. I know I shouldn't, especially since I'm still so underage for both, but I promise I haven't touched a cigarette or a drop of alcohol since I took my pregnancy test and it was positive. I just hope that the things I have done don't hurt it too much. I already love it so much, it's a little hard for me to comprehend, but I know I love it with everything I have."

He nods at me with understanding in his eyes. I knew I could trust him so much more than I could trust other people. "Okay. So then let's go ahead and get started. I'll do your physical exam first. I'll need to feel around your stomach to determine how big the baby is and that will tell me how far along you are. Then we'll decide if you're far enough along to have a belly ultrasound or if we need to do a vaginal ultrasound. We need to do that to make sure that the growth is normal for its stage and that there's nothing to worry about at this time. And since you are only 16 and have not had a PAP smear, we'll need to do that today as well. Does that sound alright?" "Yes, it does. I was actually really hoping I would get to have an ultrasound today so that I could see it," I reply with a big smile on my face.

"Good. Now, I'm going to you to lay back for me so I can feel around your belly," he says and I obediently lay back onto the pillow and try to get as comfortable I can in this position. I feel him feeling around my stomach in several different directions and he's pushing things around a bit. It's uncomfortable, but at least it doesn't hurt. "Alright, Preseley. Seems to me that you are already about 9 or 10 weeks along, so what that means to you is that you have about another 30 weeks to birth time and your baby is about the size of a peanut now. Definitely too soon to know if it's a boy or girl yet, you still have at least another 6 weeks to go before we can try to see that. You're at that stage where we can see the baby from an ultrasound of your stomach, but would be easier to see vaginally and I think that method would be best this time around since you have been drinking and smoking. Just want to make sure I see everything I can to make sure everything's alright. And unfortunately, the ultrasound would mess up your PAP results, so we're going to have to do that part first, I'm afraid."

"That's okay, doctor. Do whatever you need to to make sure my baby is healthy," I say. "Alright then, let me get everything set up for that test, and we'll get that going and then we can let you see the baby and check everything out."

He pulls some things out of the drawers and sets them on what looks like one of those stainless steel tables on TV for people having surgery, then he washes his hands and puts on gloves. Alright, Presely, I'm not going to lie, nobody likes this part, but it has to be done. I'm going to need you to put your feet in the stirrups here and spread your legs wide for me so I can examine you and get this test done. After it's done, we can get you set up for your ultrasound, alright?"

I swallow a lump in my throat and do as I'm told. I feel him doing things down there. Thankfully none of this hurts like Jerry used to do to me. I just wish it were over. It's so embarrassing to have myself out in the open, but I guess that's how the baby was made and that's the main way they can check on it, too. I'll admit to not being too sure of that one. There's still a lot more I need to learn about this whole process and I'm learning about it a bit late, admittedly.

"Okay, Preseley. You're done with that part and you can make yourself a bit more comfortable for now while I send this off to the lab and get you set up for the ultrasound, alright? You did great," I hear him say. Thank god. I bring my legs back together and sit back up. I never did like lying on my back and that table is not comfortable at all.

I wait a couple more minutes for him to come back and this time, he brought a fairly large machine with him. I'm willing to bet that this is the ultrasound machine and I feel my excitement building up again. I finally get to see my baby.

"Alright, so this is the ultrasound machine. I'm afraid that this will be similar to the PAP smear you just had, but this will be more pleasant because we'll get to see your baby and I know you're really wanting that, right?"

I just smile as big as I can and say, "Of course." I lay back down and do the same as the last time. "Alright, Preseley. Get ready to feel some pressure and then we'll be able to see your baby." I feel the pressure he was talking about, but I have my eyes turned towards the screen. I've been waiting for this all day and I will not be missing a single part of it. Finally the image stops moving and it stays still. I don't see the baby, though. Just a ton of black parts and white parts. I don't know what's what here. I really need to study these things more.

"Okay. Everything looks good. Looks like the development is going right according to schedule and you are definitely 10 weeks along in your pregnancy. I see nothing abnormal at this point, so you may have gotten lucky that none of those cigarettes or drinks have done anything. Granted, there's still a lot of time to come before we can know with absolute certainty, but so far, everything looks really good," I hear him saying.

"I am so relieved to hear you say that, Doctor Roberts. I do have one question now, though," I say. "And what's that?" he asks me. "Where's the baby? I can't tell what's what on here. Just lots of black and white images."

He chuckles and says, "Not many people can at this stage. That's why we all have to have so much schooling. Your baby is right here," as he points to a small peanut-shaped white and gray blob at the bottom of the screen. He points to the right side of the screen and says, "That is where the head is developing and you can see that the facial features are just starting to form. Just below that, you can see the arms and hands starting to show up a little bit more. And even further down you can see the legs doing the same. You'll be amazed at how fast they grow and change before your very eyes."

I just stare at the picture. Now that he pointed it out, I can't believe that I didn't see it. It's so beautiful. Tiny, yes. But so beautiful. I'm trying so hard to not cry right now. I am overcome by my little miracle when I hear Dr. Roberts say, "I doubt I even need to ask at this point, but would you like to hear the heartbeat?"

"I can hear it this soon?" I ask him in mild shock. "Yes. We should be able to with this. The heart starts beating at six weeks and we can usually start to hear it between weeks eight and twelve. You're right in the middle, so I'm pretty sure we can as soon as I turn on the sound for you," he replies.

"Yes. If we can. Of course. That would be so amazing!" I reply with sheer joy. "I thought so. Here we go," he says as he does a few things on the ultrasound machine. The next thing I know, I hear a loud pumping sound that almost sounds like a horse race. "Is that the heartbeat?" "It is. Sounds nice and healthy to me." I can't stop crying now. It's the best image and sound I've ever experienced in my life.


	9. Destroy

**A/N: It's here! Enjoy! And please read the second author's note at the bottom.**

* * *

It's been two weeks since I finally got to see my baby for the first time. Doctor Roberts said that I shouldn't need to be seen again for another 2 weeks, that I don't have to be in every week until it's closer to delivery time. That kind of makes me sad, but I do understand. Nine months is a long time and while a lot of growth and changes happen during the first trimester, things don't get really overly exciting until the third trimester when you can see the face and everything else. I have to admit, I'm excited for the second trimester, which he said is when I can find out the sex of the baby, typically somewhere between 16 and 20 weeks. I only have about five to nine weeks to go for that one. I think it's a girl. Just a feeling I get.

I've kept my promise to the nurse and director. I keep to my room and I've been doing my homework even though I hate that. My grades have come back up dramatically and I have stopped drinking and smoking. Anything for my child. I would literally give her anything. I don't want her to live through what I have. Not having anyone around to love you or care about you. That will not be her life and that is my promise to her.

It's Wednesday and I'm sitting in my room doing more homework. Since I blew all this stuff off and now I'm getting serious about it again, I actually asked my teachers to work with me on getting caught back up so that I can graduate and take care of my baby. They're actually working with me. Every single one of them warned me that it was going to be a lot of work, but I told them that I was going to do this and I'm proving it to them. I work about six hours straight after I get back from school on homework before I can't keep my eyes open anymore and have to go to bed. But I am pushing. Like I said, anything for my baby girl.

I've been in a lot of pain today. Really tired, too. Maybe I'm pushing too hard, but I can't stop now. I've finally turned my life around. Even Rae the rest of the group is supporting me in my decision to quit drinking and focus on school and the baby. That shocked me to no end, but I was so relieved, too. It's nice to know that they still have my back.

I've been working for about 4 hours now and I'm just too tired to keep going. My pain levels are getting worse too. I can feel it really hard in my back. I suppose that's not too surprising considering I'm going to get pretty big here, soon. I've been reading a lot of pregnancy books in between homework. I figure it's way past time to learn about my body and how it works, not to mention learn how fast the baby is growing. It's so fascinating. Maybe one day when she and I are a little bit older, I'll be a gynocologist, too. Lord knows I've always loved kids anyway. Not kids my own age, mind you, but the cute and little ones. I could probably make a lot of money doing that and support us even more. I think I'll ask Doctor Roberts what he thinks the next time I see him. Maybe he can give me some pointers on where to start and if it is actually a good choice for me.

I try to stretch my back out at my chair, but it doesn't help. I grab a couple of my books and head to my bed. Laying down and stretching out there will most likely do the trick. I lay down and get as comfortable as I can get and open one of my pregnancy books. I might as well read up some more on these while I'm resting.

I keep reading the week that I am in. I do look a couple weeks ahead to see what happens, but I am just so fascinated with what's going on now. I'm 11 1/2 weeks now and this is the third time I've read the chapter. I actually can't wait to get past 12 weeks because according to the doctor and everything that I've read, that's always the 'danger zone' where everything that is basic for the baby, like the heart and brain, start forming and a lot of things can go wrong, but once you get past the first trimester, it gets easier and the baby starts getting more and more baby features and looks more human than like a tadpole or frog. At least that's what I think these pictures make them look like. It's actually pretty funny. Granted, it does look a bit more human at this point, but it's still way too small to really get to see. The book says it's not even two inches long yet. But I do have to agree with its assessment that some of the first trimester discomforts, namely puking my guts out, are starting to slow down. But more fun is yet to come. I'll just be happy to keep my food in at this point, I think. I've been able to keep everything down for the last few days and it's been so nice. I actually haven't even been nauseous. It's lovely!

I'm laying and reading about what the baby looks like and what happens this week when all of a sudden I feel a sharp pain ripping through my back and abdomen. It feels like I've just been stabbed. The pain brings tears to my eyes and I can do nothing but hold myself around my waist and wait. Something is definitely wrong. This pain is wrong. And it's not stopping. I'm starting to bawl out my eyes now. It hurts so bad.

Finally after about 5 minutes that felt like forever, the pain is lessening. I get up and head to the bathroom. Maybe I just have to go? Yeah, right. That was not an 'I need to go' pain. But it's worth trying first. I get into the bathroom and pull down my pants and there is a lot of blood in my underwear. Oh god. That's a lot of blood. Oh god. My baby! Is she okay? I quickly pull my pants back on and run for the nurse's office. She needs to call my doctor. Now!

I get to the office just in time to see her packing her things up and getting ready to leave for the day. I charge in while holding my stomach and blurt out as fast as I can, "PleaseyouhavetohelpmeI'mbleedingandinsomuchpainsomething'swrongpleasehelpme!"

"Whoa, whoa. Hold on Preseley. I can't understand you. You have to slow down. What's wrong?" she asks as she looks me over and closes her door behind me.

I try to calm myself down and take a deep breath and say, "Please, I need help. Something is wrong. I'm bleeding and I'm in a lot of pain. I don't know what's wrong, but you need to help the baby!"

"Oh, dear. That's definitely not good. Okay, do you know how much you've bled? Maybe it's normal? Did you talk to your doctor about all of this?" she asks again and looks at me.

"No, I don't know how much I've lost, but I'm not so dumb anymore to know that it's too much and something is definitely wrong here! My underwear is covered in blood and the pains are horribly sharp! I feel like I'm being stabbed in the stomach and back! This is definitely NOT normal!" I retort. I can't believe that I used to be this stupid. And she's supposed to be a nurse!

"Okay. Alright. Can I take a look? I mean, I'm sorry, but it is my job to gauge the severity of your condition before we can move on to what can be done," she says and looks at me too calmly. I am getting so pissed now. Time is of the essence and she needs to be calling 911 and Doctor Roberts NOW! I glare at her and drop my pants far enough for her to see all the blood. "There. Happy? I told you, SOMETHING IS WRONG!" I am screaming now. I am so scared and in so much pain. I hope the baby is okay, but in my heart I know she's not. There is too much pain and blood to believe otherwise, but I'm still hoping. She's all I have left. She saved me.

"Oh my god, Preseley. I'm so sorry I didn't believe you. Alright, I'm leaving right now, I'll take you to the hospital myself and maybe we can see about calling your doctor on the way," she says as she grabs all her things and starts heading for the door. "Let's get going and get you checked in. Once we're there I'll call the director and see if he wants me to stay with you or what else he might want done."

I follow her out the door and we rush quickly to her car. We get in and she starts driving as fast as the law will allow her to to the emergency room. I'm not much of one for praying, but I sure as hell am doing it now. I just keep hoping against hope that I'm okay and so is she. We finally get the emergency room and she barely stops the car before I pretty much jump out and run inside, holding my stomach. It just hurts so bad. I find the front desk lady and explain that I'm 11 weeks pregnant and am having bleeding and massive pain. She immediately gets on the phone and alerts them to my presence and needs. Looks like I was right because they are moving fast for me. Faster than the idiot nurse at "home" did. I see her walking in as they take me away on a wheelchair and I hear the front desk lady asking her, "Are you her guardian?" "No, but I work as the nurse at the group home she lives at. She's an orphan." "Okay, I'm going to have to ask you some questions and have you sign some forms on her behalf, then," is all I hear as they quickly take me back to a private room.

We get inside and the nurse closes the door. "Okay, Preseley, I know you're scared, but we need you to keep calm for a while, okay? We have to run tests to make sure the baby is okay and if it is, we'll run more tests to see why you're in so much pain and bleeding. We're going to have to have you get into one of these ugly hospital gowns here so that we can run these tests faster for you. It would also be helpful so that we can see how much blood you've lost and make sure that you don't need a transfusion," she says as she hands me a gown. "Do you need me to stay here to help you or do you want to have privacy? It's completely up to you, sweetheart."

I look her in the face. She's so pretty. Brown hair, intensely green eyes, maybe an inch taller than me and wearing blue scrubs. I start crying again and say, "Please. I need the help. I hurt so much and I'm so scared. I don't want anything to be wrong with my baby. She's all I have." She looks at me with such a sweet look. I know that she cares. "Okay. That's fine and that's what me and everybody else is here for, alright? Just breathe and try to relax. We'll find out what's going on as soon as we can. I've been where you are and know that this part is the absolute worst, the not knowing. But it should be okay. My story ended up happy. The baby was fine and so was I, and who knows? Yours will end up just as happy," she says, comforting me.

I nod my head. She's probably right. I just need to relax and help them help me. She helps me get undressed and I see her look at my underpants and an unfamiliar look cross her face as she also helps me get into those ugly gowns. She was definitely right, these things are even worse than at the doctor's office. Once I'm in the gown, she helps me up on the bed and makes sure I can lay comfortably. "Do you need anymore pillows, a blanket, anything? It'll be a couple minutes before the ultrasound technician makes it down here to run the sonogram. We're also going to need to take some blood to check your hormone levels and everything in there, so it'll still be a little bit. You might as well get as comfortable as you can get."

I just shake my head no. "No. This is fine for now. It's actually not bad. I just wish I could stop hurting. And of course I want to make sure the baby's okay." "I understand completely. We're moving as fast as we can. This is San Francisco, after all. Never a quiet day here," she says as she picks up my clothes from the floor and puts them on one of the chairs in the room. "Listen, I think your pants and underwear are ruined. I'm not going to lie to you. That's a lot of blood and blood is really hard to get out of your clothes. You will probably end up having to throw them out as soon as all of this is over, okay?" she says as she holds my hand. I really do like her.

"Okay. That's fine. They're only clothes, right?" I ask with a weak smile. "Right," she says, smiling back at me. "Now, I'm going to run and get the supplies I need to draw some blood and check on the ultrasound technician's whereabouts and we'll see what we can do about getting you some answers, alright?" I can only nod. I am so scared.

She leaves the room and is back in just a couple of minutes like she said she would be. She has a plastic tray in hand with lots of vials in it. I seriously hope she doesn't need me to fill all of those. Right behind her is another woman in blue scrubs and she's pushing the ultrasound machine. They really are on the ball here. I hope to know what's wrong soon.

"Okay, Preseley, she made it down super fast for you and we are going to tag team you a little bit to try to speed things up. I'm going to draw the blood so it can be sent to the lab to be worked and she's going to run your ultrasound to make sure that your baby is doing okay. We've also called Doctor Roberts for you. You're in luck that he also delivers babies in this hospital, so he's actually already here and he'll be down here shortly to check on you and to send off any other tests he wants done after all of this, so you get to bypass the ER doctor entirely, you lucky duck, you." I can't help but smile at her at this. I'm so lucky that I have a nurse that cares and my doctor is already here and is working for me.

The nurse who's been with me almost since I got here, whose name is Rose, at least according to her name tag that I just now noticed, reaches for my right arm and wraps some rubber around my arm and starts feeling around for a good vein to draw blood from. The other person whose name tag I can't see is setting up the machine and plugging it in and getting it turned on for me. I finally hear her speaking and she says, "Okay, since you are still only 11 weeks and are experiencing pain and blood loss, the best bet we can have for a good test is the vaginal ultrasound. I can do the belly, but like I said, it's best this way. We can see and hear more and it's clearer."

I nod my head and say, "Vaginal is fine. I've already had one of those and it's fine. Do what you need to do to find out what's wrong." "Okay, vaginal it is," she responds as we all turn to the door as we hear a knock. The ultrasound lady gets up to see who it is, and there's Doctor Roberts.

"Oh my god, Doctor Roberts. I'm so happy to see you," I say as he walks in and closes the door. This room has certainly gotten crowded quickly between the four of us and the ultrasound machine. "Well I'm happy that you're happy to see me. I figured I had some time between patients upstairs and I'd come and check on you to make sure everything is okay. Looks like we've just gotten started here, right?" he asks.

Rose nods and says, "Yes, doctor. I am just finding a vein here to pull the bloodwork needed and Natalie there is just about ready to run the ultrasound."

"So then I haven't missed anything. I'm glad. Is it alright if I stick around for the ultrasound, Preseley?" he asks me. "I wouldn't have it any other way Doctor. I'm just so happy that you guys actually care," I respond with a hint of a chuckle, to which he smiles at me before he turns to Natalie and says, "Please proceed so we can make sure the little one is alright." "Yes sir," she says as she pulls out the vaginal tool. I know the drill at this point. I scoot down and put my feet in the stirrups and get ready. God, I hope she's alright. I feel the tool and I turn to look at the screen. At least with all of this going on, I get to see her again.

She finally stops moving the tool and the screen stops jumping around. There's the grayish blob that I was looking for. There's the baby. I think it's still there. Please let it still be there. "Okay, Preseley. There's the baby, and I won't mince words with you. It doesn't look good. It looks like a mash-up mess in there right now. Natalie, can you turn on the sound so we can see if there's still a heartbeat?" Oh god. Oh no. This can't be happening! Please let there be a heartbeat.

Natalie pressed a button on the machine and I hear swishing, but not that horse racing sound that I heard last time is not there. I'm starting to panic. Where's the heartbeat? Where is it? She can't be gone! NO!

I hear Doctor Roberts sigh and he gently touches my arm. "Preseley, I am so sorry. There's no heartbeat. The reason you've been in so much pain and bleeding is your body miscarrying the fetus and is in the process of removing the dead tissues. It actually looks like the baby may have been dead a few days now and just now the process of miscarrying has started. I am so sorry."

I am crying like never before now. I can't believe it. My only family just died. She died inside of me, no less. How can this be happening? Why do I keep losing so much? I just don't understand what I did that was so wrong to deserve this!

"How? I mean...just...how? I did everything right. I've been sleeping, I stopped smoking, I stopped drinking. I don't understand. Why does this keep happening to me?" I say in between racking sobs. Rose is holding my right hand now that she's done taking blood, trying to comfort me, and Doctor Roberts is holding the other hand doing the same. "Should I have come in sooner? What did I do that was so wrong? Why did she die?"

"I'm so, so sorry, Preseley. I wish I had an answer to give you. I know that we went over this last time, that the risk of miscarriage is very high in the first trimester, but tends to go down with each week that passes, but sometimes a woman's body just miscarries. It's usually just Mother Nature's way of saying that something was wrong, and as painful as this is, this is actually the least painful course of action. It doesn't mean you did anything wrong, it just means that something was not quite right with the baby."

I listen to him talk and start crying even harder. My baby is dead and I couldn't do anything to stop it. In between sobs I hear him say, "Go ahead and shut that off, Natalie. We know what's going on now. Thank you." and I feel all the tools taken away and hear them being put away. If it's at all possible, I'm crying harder now. I finally had a family and it's gone again. I just don't understand why I'm not allowed to have a family. My parents give me up for adoption, my adoptive parents get murdered, nobody wants to foster or adopt me again, I get raped for years then finally get pregnant, and the baby dies. What does the universe have against me? I don't get it!

I ball myself up into the fetal position on the bed and continue to cry. I finally can get out, "Please. I need to be alone for a few minutes. I need to process this. I need to cry. Please. I just need to be alone for a little bit." I hear Doctor Roberts say, "I understand. We'll let you have a few minutes to yourself. Press the red button on the wall when you're ready to speak to Rose again and we can then proceed from here. I'll need to see you in a week to do another ultrasound to make sure that your body has miscarried properly. If there's left over dead tissue in your uterus, it can cause a lot of problems that I know you won't want, so we need to check that. I'll get you set up for that appointment first thing tomorrow, okay? Rose. Natalie."

Rose leans in closer to me and gives me a hug. "I am so, so sorry, honey. Nobody deserves this, but the doctor is right. These things just happen sometimes. I'll be right outside if you need anything." They finally all leave the room.

I wrap my arms around my knees and just continue to cry. My heart feels like it's been put through a shredder, taken out, then put back through the blades. I don't know that I'll be able to survive this sadness. Now I understand that phrase "broken-hearted" because I definitely feel it. I don't think I've quite felt this bad since my parents died, but I think this is worse. It's worse because this time it was real family who died. And she didn't even get a chance to live. But maybe it's for the best because life...FUCKING...SUCKS!

Now I'm just angry. I'm sad. I'm furious. I'm so many emotions at once, I don't know how my little body is standing this. All of a sudden, my hands slip off my legs. They are very wet. As if I had just washed them. Or if my tears were falling into them, but they were around my legs, not anywhere near my face. And my hands are just dripping water. On their own.

I finally stop crying because I am just so confused. How are my hands so wet on their own? That makes no sense. All of a sudden, a gush of water comes from them and makes a huge puddle on the floor. What the hell?! I jump up and stand on the bed and stare at the puddle I just made on the floor. How did I just do that!? I look at my hands again and now they're dry. On their own. I know what I just saw. I look around, trying to find an explanation when a gust of air runs through the room. No. What the hell? Next thing I know, there's a giant hole in the floor. Where did that come from!?

I'm crying again. Not just out of grief, but out of fear and of rage. What is going on now? Why can't I just be left alone? I've already lost everything and now the universe is playing with me? What kind of god would think that these kinds of games are okay? I'm 16! I'm still a kid and I've been through more than most people, and yet he continues to fuck with me! Especially now! I just lost my only blood relative in the most horrible fashion imaginable and now I'm getting toyed with!

The rage keeps building and building in my chest. I'm just so furious with the world. Who the hell thought it was okay for me to be treated the way I have been my whole goddamned life? Who? I want to talk to him or her! I want to go head to head!

All of a sudden a fire roars to life in my hands and stays there. I stare at my hands. It's beautiful. The power. How am I doing this? That's got to be the only explanation at this point. It's coming from me. I'm doing all of this. Somehow, I have the power to control things. I think I can control the four basic elements. I run over what just happened in my mind again. First I conjured water because I was drowning in sorrow, then water appeared. Then I was afraid and air came up. I quickly thought of escaping when a hole appeared in the earth. Now that I'm furious, I have fire in my hands. And it's not burning me! That, in and of itself, is really cool.

I can't help but smile now. Maybe God or whoever's in charge isn't fucking with me after all. Maybe they finally realized that I was right, none of this was right, and just gave me the power to fight back. The power to finally make things right. I clench my fists and will the fire to go away. I don't want to set a fire here. They haven't done anything wrong to me here. I open my eyes and the fire is gone. Cool. It really is my doing. I finally have the power to make things right.

I turn and spy my clothes on the chair where Rose left them. I doubt she'd understand what's on my mind, but then again, nobody ever has. I quickly change out of the hospital gown and back into my clothes. Yuck. They're still wet with blood. But they're all I have right now, so they'll have to make do for the moment.

I turn and focus on the hole in the floor that I made. I close my eyes and concentrate. I need to learn this stuff fast to make my plan to regain balance work. I want to close the hole and make it so it never existed first. I open my eyes again and it's gone as if it never was. Not a sound, either. That's really cool. I close my eyes again and I want it to come back, bigger. Big enough for me to use this time. I open my eyes again, and sure enough, it's back and big enough for me to use. It even curves after so long to create a walkway for me. I'm going to use this hole to escape the hospital because I'm sure that they'll be turning me back over to the nurse to take back to Devonshire. I'm done with Devonshire. They've fucked me over for the last time. I'm sure that it's their fault I lost my only family yet again.

I look around to make sure I haven't forgotten anything and I haven't. I take a deep breath and jump in the hole that I made and look up above me. This is too cool. It's about time I get the power to make things right. And not just for myself. For my daughter and my family that I've lost. I'm going to make it right for them, too. I concentrate with my eyes open this time and will the hole above me to close as if it never was and it does. Right before my very eyes. Definitely awesome. I look ahead of me and I'm essentially buried alive, but I'm not afraid. For the first time in my life I am in complete control.

I will the tunnel I created to continue expanding in front of me and closing behind me. I may not be able to see the world above, but I still feel I know exactly where I'm going. The earth and my soul are telling me where to go and where to turn. Finally I come to a stop. I figure I've been walking underground like this for a half hour now. Maybe an hour. I'm really enjoying the solitude under here, too. Nobody to bother me. I will another tunnel to form above me with an opening this time. As I look out, I see my room at Devonshire. I was right about where I was. Good. My plan is working. I will the earth beneath me to lift me up into the room and it closes behind me, again as if it never was. Damn, I'm good. I can't help but smile at this. I feel a little bit giddy, too.

I quickly grab my things that I know I'll need for now and start packing as fast as I can. It's night now, but I want to get my plans started already. I think 10 years of torture is more than enough. I look around me to make sure I have everything when I realize I'm still wearing my bloody clothes. Shit. I grab some new pants and underwear and my sanitary napkins and get changed. I toss them on the floor and conjure fire from my hands again and burn them to ash and no damage done to the rest of the floor. I'm getting pretty good at this, I think.

I check around me again to make sure that I have everything I'm going to need. With my new powers, I don't think I'll go hungry and I definitely won't be going thirsty. I don't need my schoolbooks anymore because I am done with that shit. I spy my pregnancy books on my bed and tears spring to my eyes as I feel my heart breaking again. I sit down on my bed and remember what was lost and why I was doing what I was doing. I may not be able to bring her back, but she will still get her wrongs righted for her. I'll be sure of this. I wipe my face and open the tunnel in my floor again. I toss my bags of clothes down there and look around one last time. This is the last time I'll be seeing it. In fact, it's the last time it'll be seen by anybody, I decide. I raise my hands and conjure the flames again and set the room on fire. It won't be spreading too fast, but I know that I needed to start somewhere and I needed to destroy the memories here. I watch for a moment as the flames I created find fuel and slowly spread. Good.

I jump down into my tunnel again and did what I did on my way here and open things on my way forward and close them behind me so that nobody would even know that I was there. I make my way a couple blocks away to an abandoned lot where I open my tunnel again and get out as before. I close it behind me with my stuff still down below, but I'll be back. I'm just not done leaving yet. I make a mental note of where I am and walk back to Devonshire where the flames are just now making their way around the building. I make sure that I am where nobody can see me.

I can hear the fire department sirens in the distance getting closer. I can't let them stop my first step in bringing back balance. I'll let them help the kids, but that's it. The kids haven't done anything to the balance. Not yet. I see people evacuating the building and the firemen are administering aid to some and making sure everyone is out. A few have fire hoses out and pointed at my flames. I smile and stop them from flowing with just a thought. I have to admit, the looks of sheer confusion and mild horror on their faces is hilarious at this as I concentrate on the flames and make them bigger, brighter, hotter. I don't want anything to be left of that hell hole. I also concentrate on bringing in a slight breeze to fan the flames even more while I continue to concentrate on making sure that those firefighters can't get any water to douse the flames. In my mind's eye, I can see everyone watching the building burn itself up on its own with terror on their faces, not understanding how this is happening. But I do. And I don't care. I'm bringing balance back by first destroying this place.

After about 20 minutes of keeping all of this up, I finally see that Devonshire is, for all intents and purposes, gone. All that's left is a few wood beams that were part of the structure and my flames leaping between them without any mercy. I let the breeze die down and let go of the fire. It's working on its own now. I look at the firefighters and they are just shaking their heads at the destruction done to the building and how it didn't spread anywhere else. I'm willing to bet they'll never figure this one out. I finally give them access back to their water for their hoses and I see the relief flow through the group that their stuff is working again. Not that it matters anyway. Devonshire is gone. Nobody's dead. Not really. Although I'm thinking they'll list me as a casualty since the fire was too hot and destructive to leave any remains and they won't be finding me at the hospital. They won't be finding me anywhere. They'll probably assume that I ran away or that I ran away, came back, started the fire, and got caught in the middle in my grief. They'll have all but that last part right.

I take one last look at the destruction to Devonshire that I've wrought and I don't feel a damn bit guilty. I turn around to go back to my tunnel and my future. I have more balancing work to do. And I am not afraid.

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**A/N: So? What do you guys think? Yeah, I know that'd NEVER happen in ANY hospital, let alone San Francisco, but I had to hurry things up a bit. So, two things. **

**First off, I found a theme song for this story, but this chapter especially. It's actually one of my favorite songs and it came up on my playlist a couple weeks ago and I couldn't help but think of this story, and this chapter in particular. It fits perfectly, so if you don't know it, check out "No More" by Three Days Grace.**

**Second, I'm considering making the climax of this story a crossover, but I haven't decided yet. But, to help me decide, I need you guys to tell me something. How much demon fighting/sister-bonding stuff do you want to see? A lot? Minimal? I know it doesn't make sense, but the more of all of that you want to see, the more likely I am to do the crossover idea. And don't ask what I'm considering for the crossover. It's a secret and a surprise, but if I do it, it'll be even more epic than what I've already got in mind. I promise. There's still a little bit of time for me to make up my mind, but please get your votes in quickly so I can get my research and that done to make sure it's nice and cohesive. Let me know in a review or in a PM. I always answer! **

**Okay, enough rambling, I need to get going. Until next time, readers!**


	10. Reunions

**A/N: Okay, so I am starting this chapter where the prologue left off. If you need a refresher on that, please go back and reread it because it really won't be rehashed much in this chapter.**

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The memories finally fade from mind for the most part and I come back to the present, but my heart is still breaking. Even though I never did find out if it was a boy or girl before I lost it, I'm still sure it was a girl. I had named her Paine. Kind of poetic, right? I thought so, at least. I went through so much pain before I got her and the pain never stopped when she died in my womb. I thought Paine was both fitting and beautiful, even if it wasn't to be.

That was so long ago. I spent a few years honing my gifts, or magic, or whatever you wanted to call it. I still don't know. But after I felt I had perfected their art, that's when I finally made my move. I hunted down the director at Devonshire, the nurse, everybody who had even remotely anything to do with me and my never-ending life of torture. I even killed Brandi after I tracked her down. It was that bitch's fault Jerry started to think it was okay to rape me, too. I finally got Jerry tonight. You'd think I'd be relieved, but I'm not. I'm still trying to find my adoptive parents' killers. Nobody knows who killed them yet. It's been over 20 years and the cops have nothing and neither do I. I'm actually starting to run out of places to look, but I can't give up. I have to find the fuckheads who killed them and started all of this.

I make my way over to my bed and continue to cry myself to sleep. I think it's okay to let it go this time. Now that more balance has been restored, I think I deserve this tonight.

_Across Town_

"Well, that went swimmingly well," Phoebe said to her sisters. "She certainly knocked us on our asses. And we still don't know what we're dealing with. Or who. The nun never did know her name. We don't know her powers. Although they do look similar to Paige's past life, I have to admit..."

"Well we are twins," Paige points out. "It would only make sense in my mind that she'd have something in common with a past life, even if we aren't identical. I think we scared her away with your dumpster exploding skills, Piper."

"Well she just killed a human man right in front of us with fire she conjured and controlled. That screams evil to me and I was hoping that she'd stand down with a show of another kind of fire power," Piper retorts.

"Well that didn't work too well, now did it?" Paige asked Piper as Piper gave her a dirty look. "We need to follow my instincts on this. I know we're all sisters, but she's my twin. I think I can get through to her the easiest. I really don't think she's evil. I see this all the time in my charges. I think she's lost and confused, and more importantly, hurting. I'm thinking that the guy she just killed might have something do with that. I don't have proof, but I do have a strong feeling about that and my instincts are never wrong."

Piper sighs and says, "Alright. We'll try it your way. We don't need another sister running around San Francisco making the Halliwell name and line evil by killing innocents. We saved you when the Source tried to make you evil. We have to save her, too."

Phoebe nods in agreement and says, "I agree. I saw her eyes and they were holding a lot of pain. She's not evil."

"Okay. So we're in agreement, here. I think we need to scry for her again in a little bit, let her get to wherever it is she's going to be hiding and calm down. We'll never get through to her if her defenses are still up like they were just now. We'll all go in so that we each have back up, but let me be the one to talk to her. I'm sure I'll be able to talk her down. If that doesn't work, then we'll have to improvise a plan C. Sound like a good plan B?" Paige asks as she reaches out with her hands to orb them out of the alley.

Phoebe and Piper nod as they reach for her hands as well and they orb back to the manor where all their supplies are.

_Two hours later_

"I think we've given her time enough to cool down, now. Are you guys ready to try again?" Paige asks Piper and Phoebe.

"As we'll ever be. I'm still surprised we have yet another sister we never knew about, let alone that she's your twin and not even you knew that. Mom and that nun that she and Sam dropped you off with keep way too many secrets way too well," Phoebe points out.

"Yeah, let's just try to get this over with," Piper says. "We can't keep asking Billie to watch all of our kids while we're out trying to find her."

Paige nods as she holds the crystal over their map of San Francisco and starts circling it over the map. After about five minutes, the crystal finally falls on the edge of the map in a remote part of the city. "Definitely an abandoned and highly homeless area. Definitely looking more and more like a lost soul than an evil one. Let's go." She holds out her hands again to her sisters so they can all orb over there. They all grab her hands and they all orb to their sister's hideout.

I think I'm in a deep sleep. I don't know. I'm not dreaming. I haven't dreamt in so long. I try not to. All they do is remind me of everything I've ever been through. It's just black and I feel like I'm floating.

As I'm floating around in my mind, I see a very bright light penetrating through my eyelids and instantly my mind tells me I need to wake my ass up, I'm no longer alone. I instantly open my eyes and see the same women from before. I sit up and summon fire into my hands as fast as I can, which is actually pretty fast. Like I said, I've been honing things. "WHO ARE YOU!? WHY THE HELL ARE YOU IN MY PLACE!? WHY WON'T YOU JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!?" I scream out at them as I bring myself back into an attack position and I look at them closer. This is just getting to freaky for my tastes.

The one in front of the other two holds her hands up defensively and says, "Easy. We are not here to hurt you. We're here to help, believe it or not. We have gifts, magical powers, just like you do. They're all different, but we're really all the same. We are all good people and we help others. Will you be willing to hear me out?"

"I don't know if you missed the memo, but I don't do the whole 'good' thing anymore. All it does is open you up for attack!" I retort as I fling some fire at her. One of the ladies in the back raises her hands and with just a flick of her wrists, my fire is frozen in mid-air before it can hit her. I look at them in disbelief as my heart stops. Maybe they were telling me the truth. Would it be worth it to hear them out?

"How did you do that?" I ask them. The one who stopped my attack says, "Just like she said. With my own gifts. My own magic."

The one in front looks at me and says again, "Now will you please hear us out?"

"Fine," I say as I cross my arms across my chest. "I'll listen. But you better not waste my time. I'm really not in the mood to have my time wasted if you don't have anything worthwhile to say. By the way, how'd you get in here? Nobody can get in here but me. This place is completely sealed off to people."

"Again, with our magic. I can do what's called orbing and I can make myself and other people who I'm touching move to different places, or I can call for an object and move it with my mind much the same way. I can also heal wounds. Would you like to see me do one of those?" The one who approached me asks.

"Might as well while you're here," I say as I shrug. Before I can really understand what's going on, she disappears in the same bright light that woke me up and reappears a couple feet to the right of where she was. "Okay. So you're not lying to me. That's a good start, I suppose. I don't entertain people very often for reasons of my own that I won't share with you. So I'm sorry that I don't have anywhere for you to sit or anything."

The other one in the back says, "You're fine, sweetie. Don't worry about it. My name is Phoebe, by the way," she says as she steps forward with her hand out to shake mine. I timidly hold mine out as our hands meet and she gasps and closes her eyes for a moment. "Oh my god," she says as she pulls herself together. "You really have been through a lot, haven't you? I am so sorry. I wish we had known so much sooner."

"How do you know what I've been through?" I ask her angrily. That's my business and she has no right to know, especially since I tell nobody anything.

She holds her hands up defensively like the other one. "I'm sorry. I'm not prying. It's my own gift. I get visions of the future and of the past. In this case, the past. I don't know if I saw everything, but I saw enough to know why you killed that man tonight. I can't control when I get visions, so I really didn't mean to pry. Please, understand I didn't mean for it to happen. Especially since we don't even know your name yet. Or know what all of your powers are. Well, at least the others don't..."

I'm still really pissed off that she knows things about me that nobody else does, but I can tell she's telling the truth. I sigh angrily and say, "Fine. But don't let it happen again and don't be sharing whatever it was that you saw with me or anybody else, do you understand?" She just nods her head and goes back to the other girl.

I look at the other two and sigh again. "I'm Preseley. But just call me Pres. I prefer the shorter version. I can summon and control earth, air, fire, and water at will."

"Wow. Another 'P'. Who would've thought?" The other one in the back who froze my flames says. "I'm Piper." I just nod at her. "The one who can freeze things mid-movement or explode them, right?" She nods back.

The first one who approached me comes closer again and says, "And I'm Paige. The reason we've been looking for you, well, this is definitely not as easy to explain as I thought it would be. Um, I guess I'll start here. Do you see the similarities between all four of us, besides the magic powers? How we all look similar? You and me, especially?"

"Actually, yes. I've been wondering why since I first saw you guys, but I haven't worried about it too much. Why?" I ask her.

"You and me are twins, Pres. Our parents had to give us up for adoption at birth because they were afraid of what would happen if the magical community found out that they had us. They weren't supposed to be together, but they were, and they did have us. But the nun who took us to give to other families kept their secret. And kept you secret. Even from me," she explains with tears in her eyes. "But our mom and Sam finally told us the truth a few days ago and we've been looking for you ever since."

I just look at her. I don't know if I can take all this in. I've been out hunting people for ruining my life and my family, but I still had family out there? "This can't be," I finally manage to gasp out. "Are you seriously telling me that I have a family? That I was given up for adoption to only have them get murdered and spent the rest of the time after that being tortured in a miniscule hell for NOTHING!?"

Paige is crying harder now and she reaches for my hands and I see Phoebe in the background crying, too. She looks like she knows everything. "No. Not for nothing. Everything happens for a reason, honey. And my adoptive parents died, too. They weren't murdered, but they did die in a really bad car crash. My powers saved me from that crash and are essentially what brought me and them back together. I may not know your full story, but I know that our powers brought us all back together. I can't say why all that happened to you happened, but it did. And you've been alone all this time, but you don't have to be anymore. You have us now."

I'm shaking in a mixture of shock and rage. "I can't believe that there was a reason for what I've been through. I just can't. It was too much. You don't understand."

Phoebe walks back up and hugs me. "No. We don't. We really don't. I may have seen some things, but that doesn't mean I understand. But maybe we all will at some point. We actually have another sister, Prue. She died a long time ago. And we didn't understand it at the time, but there was a reason for that, too. And that reason was Paige. We'll figure it out. Together. That's what sisters are for."

Piper finally walks up and they all pull me together in a hug. Maybe it's my imagination, but maybe it's not, that this hug is the tightest and most sincere hug I've ever experienced and I finally break down and cry again. It almost feels like that hole I've had in my heart since Paine died is starting to refill again. I reach out and hug them all back.

Piper finally pulls away, she has tears running down her face, too. "Listen. If you don't mind, we have a better place for you to stay. And brothers-in-law and nieces and nephews for you to meet. Along with someone else I think you'll want to meet."

"Well, this hasn't exactly been an underwhelming day, but yeah. Sure. This place is a dump. It was just safe from people and that's why I picked it," I explain.

Paige hugs us all again as she orbs us into the nicest house I think I've ever seen. "You guys seriously live here?" I ask the group.

Piper answers, "No. Just me and my husband and kids. Paige lives with her husband and kids, same with Phoebe. But we always seem to meet up here when there's a magical heyday like today. But I hope that you'll feel comfortable calling it home for a while. At least until you get back on your feet and everything. I'm sure Wyatt and Chris will love you."

"Wyatt and Chris?" I ask her.

She nods and says, "My sons. Your nephews. But all in due time. Tomorrow will probably be better. First, there's a couple of other people you should meet before we call it a night and let you process everything. It's a lot for us, so we can only imagine how hard it is for you right now. It'll take time for us to all reconnect anyway. But probably less for you and Paige."

"Maybe. I'm just not used to people, let alone being treated so nicely. And the fact that it's family. I thought I was alone all that time. It's just kinda weird," I say as I shrug and look down at my feet.

Paige hugs me again and says, "I know, sweetie. We'll get there. This family has nothing but love and magic in it, you'll see." She smiles as she lets go.

After lighting some purple and white candles in a circle, Paige, Piper, and Phoebe all stand together behind a podium that has a really big book on it and begin chanting together, _"Hear these words, Hear my cry, Spirit from the other side, come to me, I summon thee, Cross now the great divide."_ As they finish the spell, a different kind of white light appears in the circle and circles around as the image of two women appear.

Then Paige calls out, "Sam, I hope you're not working because you're going to want to be here for this." Then the same bright white light that Paige has when she orbs show up and just as quickly disappear as a man appears. "You rang, Paige?" He asks.

She just gives him a knowing smile as she says, "Sam. Mom. Grams. I think you should all meet Preseley. Or Pres, as she prefers. My twin. Your other daughter and granddaughter."

My breath just catches in my throat. It's a lot to take in. My birth parents. My birth family. All here. The younger spirit in the circle steps out of the circle and hugs me. "Oh my baby. I am so sorry. The Elders only just recently finally let me check up on you and when I saw how your life has been, let me tell your sisters about you so they could find you and bring you home. I am so sorry. If I had known how things would turn out, I would have never given you two up for adoption."

Sam finally gets over his shock and comes over as well. "Never. Even if we had known, we wouldn't have done it. Giving you two up was the hardest thing we've ever had to do and if we had a chance to do it over, we wouldn't have done it," he says as he pulls me in for a hug as well. I feel the hole in my heart finally close. I really am home.

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**A/N pt 2: Okay, I know. Don't shoot me. Very shmaltzy and cheesy, and you probably just got diabetes reading that. But, I felt it was important with where I'm planning on taking this story in the future. Plus, she's been through hell. I wanted to give her a break and do something a bit happier. PLEASE let me know what you think. But be constructive, I won't tolerate any flaming. I don't flame you, so don't flame me. Or I'll set Pres on you. Lol. Sorry. Couldn't resist that one.**

**Also, please let me know what you'd like to see sister-bonding and demon-fighting wise. I'd like to hear what you think and if I really like your ideas, I'll be writing it in and I'll give you a shout out. I'm also still considering that secret crossover for the climactic ending, but I'm not sure. I'm still not going to tell you what it is, though. It's a surprise for when and if I do it. I don't know. I might. I've been taking a lot of risks with this story that seem to be working so far, so I might continue that streak. We'll see. But, still, I wanna know. Talk to me. **

**On one more side note before I go, I am currently trying to break out into full fiction writing. I still don't know if I'll be good enough, but I have rekindled my love of writing and I am hoping to hit the ground running with it. If you like my work, I will be publishing on the sister site of FictionPress under the same user name. I've been Windsong Springheart for a very long time and I'm not parting with it. It's part of who I am. So, I'll be publishing full fiction here soon, so if you like me, please check them out and let me know what you think! Until next time!**


	11. Reconnecting pt 1

**A/N: If you haven't noticed it already, please look above to the new picture for the story! It's custom made by my uncle. I had the concept and told him the idea, but told him to take it and run with it, and he did! It's amazing! Please join with me in giving him a massive round of applause for making something so awesome! Also, since it is custom, please do not use that image without our permission. Thank you. But yes, I felt this would fit in with the story and where it's going SOOOO much better than the last one, and like I said, it's just awesome, isn't it?**

**So, a quick note. This chapter and the next are essentially filler chapters and this one in particular rehashes on what's already been published. I know, I know. I'm sorry. But, there's a couple reasons I'm doing this. One: only Phoebe knows what's happened so far thanks to her visions, so she kinda has to tell the others. Plus, it's part of sisterly bonding. It's super important for where I'm taking this story. Two: I'm also using this time to foreshadow a lot of things to come, so it's definitely not for naught. I promise.**

**Okay, I've taken up enough of your time with this super long author's note. Just be sure to REVIEW, let me know what you think. And a huge thank you to all my new followers. You guys make my day when I get the notice and make me want to keep going. And if you have an idea on something you'd like to see in this story, let me know and I'll see if I can't work it in for you along with a huge shout out for giving me the idea. I already have a few ideas from someone that I really like and will be working on getting those in down the line. So, without further ado, please enjoy. Oh, and REVIEW!**

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I wake up after sleeping the best that I have since long before I can remember. I finally feel calm and at peace for the first time in such a long time. I met my parents. Granted they're both technically dead, but I still got to see them and talk to them. And they didn't just abandon me like I thought they did. They did it out of love, hoping that I'd have a better life. They were wrong, but that's beside the point. I'm home now. I finally have a family. That's all that really matters.

I slowly get up and make my way to the bathroom on the second floor. The bathroom alone is majestic. I get in the shower and enjoy the first hot shower I've had in years. Usually they're cold and they come from my powers, so this is nice. I don't have to concentrate or be cold. I can just be.

I finally get out when the water starts getting cold and get dressed. Piper was nice enough to give me some of her clothes since the ones that I've been wearing were getting really ratty. But, that's what happens when you have to steal your clothes and you hate stealing, so you do it at the barest minimum. I put on a nice red V-neck shirt and some blue jeans. They almost fit perfectly.

I make my way downstairs and find Piper and a blonde guy and two kids around the table. "Preseley, you're up! Good! I'd like you to officially meet my husband and kids, your brother-in-law and nephews. This is Leo," she puts her hands on the man's shoulders.

He looks at me with a knowing smile on his face as he gets up to shake my hand, "So nice to finally meet you."

I shake his hand back. "And you." I look back at Piper with a smile on my face. Wow. He's cute. Piper sure knows how to pick them.

"And this is Wyatt," she lovingly caresses the older of the two kids. He's blonde and wearing khaki pants and a striped blue shirt. "He's my oldest. And this is Chris," she says as she hugs the other one. This one is brunette and is wearing black pants and a red shirt. They really are adorable kids.

"Nice to meet you guys," I shyly wave at the two. They just wave at me with grins on their faces and continue eating their breakfast.

"Come, have a seat. Get some breakfast. You'll love the food, I promise. I don't own a restaurant for nothing!"

I drop my jaw in disbelief. "You own a restaurant, too?" I ask.

She smiles at me and says, "You know it. I'm a professional chef. Trust me, you'll never enjoy putting meat back on your bones more. Have a seat." She leaves to the kitchen and brings out some pancakes and eggs and bacon. It smells absolutely divine and my mouth immediately begins watering. She barely puts the plate down before I start digging in.

"Hey, I know you're hungry, but please try to remember your manners. There are two little boys here that watch and copy everything we do, so be careful," she gently chides.

"Sorry," I say with my mouth full of food.

"And don't talk with your mouth full. Eat first, then we can talk," she continues as she goes around the table and takes her own seat. Leo is sitting back down where he was when I first saw him, which is at the far end of the table by the window. He's eating his breakfast as well.

We all sit in a comfortable silence as we all eat. As we all finish up, I wipe my mouth and say, "Wow. Piper, you weren't kidding. I think that's the best food I've ever eaten. And I'm not just saying that because I haven't had a real family meal in years, I really mean it. It was amazing."

She smiles at me and says, "Thank you. I'm sure we'll all be able to enjoy more together down the line. If you feel up for it, I can make a big dinner tonight and you can meet your other brothers-in-law and your nieces. But that's only if you feel up for it. We can hold the giant family meetings for a while until you feel ready to be around our brood."

I smile back at her and say, "Actually, I'd love that. I've spent all this time believing that I was alone and now that I know I'm not, I want to relish every second of it. I say bring it!"

"Okay. I'll let Paige and Phoebe know when they come in. They wanted to come in and see you without everyone around and catch up some more without distraction. Which is why Leo will be taking the boys to magic school here in about an hour. 'Sister bonding' he calls it," she responds as she looks at her husband with a look of adoration. "You can probably even meet Billie later on if you'd like."

"Magic school? And who's this Billie person?" I ask.

"Oh. Right. Sorry. I keep forgetting you're not completely up to speed with all of this just yet. Magic school is exactly that. It's where magically inclined children go to school and learn how to control their powers. Leo is actually the headmaster there since he's a former Elder and has many years of magical experience. It's also demon-proof, so we tend to have the kids go there for their safety when there's too much demon activity going on. And Billie is another witch. We took her in and helped to guide her not long after she found out she had powers and she helps to take up a lot of the demon hunting duties so we can have more family time after years of fighting them on a weekly basis. She also helps babysit a lot, too."

"Demons? There's demons?" I ask with a look of sheer confusion on my face.

"Yeah. I'm guessing you haven't had a lot of demon fighting in your experience just yet. Don't worry, as a re-found Charmed One, you'll be meeting a lot of those. Don't worry, if I were to base anything off of your performance last night, you're almost completely set. The only thing is is that you're going after human beings who can't really fight back with their own fire power. Demons can. They can teleport themselves around a lot, too. But, speaking of last night, I really do think that the four of us should sit down and have a talk about that as soon as you feel ready to talk about it."

"Right. There's absolutely no chance of getting you guys to forget that and just move on, right?"

"None whatsoever. You said yourself you wanted a family, now you've got one. Talking about the painful stuff is part of that. No matter how much none of us like it, it's part of that. You're obviously in a lot of pain and a demon will use that against you, so it's best to get it out in the open so that we can help you heal and get past it. That's what sisters do!" She smiles.

"I suppose you're right, but it's not going to be easy. Granted, Phoebe probably already knows because of her nosy visions telling her, but I don't know if you or Paige are going to like what I have to say. It's actually really bad. And yes, I've done a lot of bad things in the name of survival."

"That's okay. We will deal with it as a family. We always do. But like I said, when you're ready."

"I'm of the mindset, the sooner it's over with, the better. I'd rather not do it and the longer it gets put off, the more I won't want to do it and will try harder to avoid it. We might as well just talk about it when Paige and Phoebe get here and get it over with."

"As long as you're sure. Pres, I really didn't mean to pressure you. I was just saying so that you knew."

"No, I know. And you're right. Granted, I don't know what demons are or what all it is you guys do, but I trust your judgment."

I look over and Leo is smiling at me. "And that just means you are definitely a part of this family. Brave, stubborn to a fault, but also absolutely brilliant. Just like my lovely wife, here."

I just smile back. "Glad to know that I'm already fitting in."

He laughs at my statement and gets up, kisses Piper on her forehead, and begins grabbing all the dishes from the table. "I'll clear these for you guys and then I'll take Wyatt and Chris and head off to magic school so you guys can have some time together alone before tonight and the rest of the gang get here." He leaves for the kitchen.

Piper looks at me with a smile on her face, "That's my husband. I actually found a good one. You won't believe what we've been through together. That's probably a story for another time, though. I was actually dating a demon when I found out about my own powers. They saved my life, too. They've actually helped to save all our lives more than once. Our powers are meant to save lives, not take them."

"So you keep reminding me. Look, I didn't know. I'll explain it all later, as I promised. I'll tell you what I've been through and why I killed that man last night with my powers. I also promise to learn everything you guys have to teach me and I'll make you all proud that I'm part of this family. I'm a very quick study, I'll have you know."

"Oh, I'm sure you are. If you're anything like the rest of us, but especially Paige, and I'm actually very certain that you are, after learning a few potions basics and learning more about demons and innocents, you'll probably be as good if not better than the rest of us in absolutely no time. Paige came in late in the game, too. Really late..." she fades off with a sad look in her eyes. She shakes her head and says, "Another story for later. But she saved all our butts with her ability to learn fast and I'm sure you will as well."

Leo finally comes back from the kitchen. "Dishes are done. I guess we better get going. I'm sure Paige and Phoebe will be here any minute now. I'll see you later." He kisses Piper on the lips this time before he turns to look at me. "And I'm sure you and I will be getting acquainted here before long. Seeing as you'll be staying here for a while and will probably be wanting to visit Magic School."

"Oh you know it. I love to learn. I hate homework, but I love learning." I smile.

He chuckles and grabs Chris and Wyatt. "Alright, Wyatt. Mind taking us all to magic school?" he asks. Before I know it, they are gone with a bright white light just like Paige does.

"The kid can do the orbing thing, too?" I ask.

"Among other things, yes. He's a very magically talented kid. Was even prophesied. I was kidnapped while I was in labor with him. Demons were hoping to raise him on the side of evil because of all the power he has in him. He's half-whitelighter just like his Auntie Paige, but since his witch half is from a full-on Charmed one, he's even more powerful than her if you can believe that. They can both heal wounds. Both of them have saved my life. Again, stories for later."

Just as she finishes, the front door to the manor opens and in walks Paige and Phoebe. "We're here!" Phoebe calls out.

I get up and hug them both. I'm just so grateful to have a family again, I don't want to stop hugging them.

"Hey, sweetie. Feeling any better?" Phoebe asks.

"Yeah, actually. I haven't slept that well in a long time. And I never knew Piper could make such good food."

Paige answers, "We know it. That's another reason we had to move out. It wasn't just that we got married and started families of our own, it's because she's such a good cook, we'd all be really fat by now and would have to roll out the door to fight demons!"

I can't help but laugh at the image. "You're probably right. I've only had one meal and I already want more!"

"Told you!"

We all share a few chuckles when Piper finally says, "I talked to miss Pres here this morning and she said that she wants to go ahead and tell us why she killed that man last night. Shall we all go to the sun room where it's a little more comfortable and roomy?"

We all just nod and move to the sun room as suggested and find a chair for each of us to sit in. I have to swallow a lump in my throat. "I've never talked about the things that happened to me to anybody and the fact that I'm going to tell you, even though Phoebe already knows," I throw a glance at Phoebe who has a guilty look on her face.

'Sorry' she mouths.

"It's fine. It's not your fault. It's your powers, I know. I just don't talk about these things. Absolutely nobody knows. I just want to make that clear, here."

Paige reaches out and grabs my hands. "Trust me, you won't find any judgment from us and especially not from me. You're safe."

I tear up at her gesture. We've only barely met not even 24 hours ago and already the love I feel from my sisters is the best feeling in the world. "Thank you."

"Just take your time, Pres. We have all day," Piper adds in.

I take a deep breath. "Well, obviously you guys know that I was given up for adoption at birth, just like Paige. I was given to a really good home with a good family. My mom, Jane, and my dad, Jared, we all just loved each other. I actually don't remember much of them. I was too young, but I do remember that we loved each other fiercely. On my sixth birthday, they were brutally murdered." The tears are rolling freely now. It hurts so much to tell this, but Piper was right in that letting it out will help me.

"They were stabbed to death, and if that wasn't enough, the bastards set them and our house on fire. From what little I was able to understand at the time, there really wasn't much left. My world was gone. That was also the day that I found out that they weren't my real parents and that I had been adopted. The dipshit cop didn't even really break it to me easy. Granted, he didn't have much to work with. I was six and my parents were just killed. I just wish it had gone easier, is all. Plus, the cops still haven't solved their case. It's a cold case over 20 years old and it's not solved. Even I've tried to figure it out, and I have nothing.

"And my life just continued to get worse after that. I was sent into foster care, but since my parents were murdered so viciously, I guess people were afraid of me. Can you imagine? I didn't do it, but they kept acting like I did. They wouldn't foster me out or adopt me out again. Nobody wanted me because they were afraid and to this day, I can't understand why. I was just a kid. I loved my parents. But they were afraid of me." I have to pause for a few moments to let myself cry freely over what I had lost. Paige, Phoebe, and Piper were also crying.

"Oh, I am so sorry, sweetie. I can't explain how sorry I am. That's just beyond terrible," Paige says, her voice breaking. "I lost my adoptive parents, too, but I was a teenager and it was to a car crash. It was horrible losing them, but I can't imagine losing them like you did yours."

I nod my head. "It was hard. It's still hard. And what's worse is that it's not the end of it. It gets worse. Not only did I lose them so horribly, but while I was in foster care, my best friend when I was 10….she….she molested me. I didn't even really know what was happening at the time, but I knew that it was wrong. And then two weeks after she did what she did, one of the orderly guys whom I also thought was a friend raped me, too. Claimed it was because he saw her and me and that we were being adults, so he was gonna show me how real adults did things. He made me his 'girlfriend' after that. We were together for six years and nobody at the center knew, and if they did, they definitely didn't care. He got me a private room and everything and nobody figured that he only did it so that it'd be easier for him to rape me on a daily basis without running a risk of the other kids seeing…."

"Oh my god," they all breathe.

"I saw a lot of abuse in my vision, but I didn't see all of this. I am so sorry. God, I just wish we had all known a lot sooner that we had another sister. If mom knew, she would have marched down there and brought you back home. I'm sure of that," Phoebe said.

"And the worst part is that it's not over…." I start to continue.

Piper suddenly says, "There's seriously more? How can there be more? I don't mean to be insensitive here, but hadn't you gone through enough?"

"I asked myself the same question for years. That man you saw me kill last night? That was him. I spent six years being raped and beaten by him and I hunted him down and killed him. And I heard him on the phone that night and he was doing it to another girl. I wasn't going to let it happen. Not when I could help this time. I could stop him. Hopefully before he got her pregnant like he did me."

"He got you pregnant?" Paige asked.

"He did. He left me the second he figured it out, too. I was drinking and smoking a lot at the time, just trying to escape the pain. I didn't even realize it until it was too late. I was about 9 or 10 weeks pregnant already when I found out. I miscarried two weeks after that. Just before I got to hit the second trimester. That was when I finally lost my mind, I guess. It was the day that I lost Paine that I found out I had powers. I figured they were a gift from God to finally make things right. Make the people who put me through the hell I went through pay. That's why I killed him. It was more than just saving another girl, it was to pay him back for everything he put me through. I wanted to make his suffering last longer, but I couldn't. I just wanted him to die. I wanted him gone. And he's not the only one. I killed the Brandi, the girl who used to be my friend. I burned her alive, too. I've actually killed a lot of people over this. Because they couldn't be bothered to see what was happening to me. For not saving me. I was bringing balance back into the world." I am full out sobbing now. I feel my sisters gather around me and hold me tight.

"You're okay. It's over. You're safe now. You're okay." I hear one of them comforting me.

I let myself cry the most I have in years and after I'm spent, we break the hug and everyone sits again. We all wipe our eyes dry and sit for a moment.

Piper is the first one to speak. "Okay. Now that we understand why you killed a man last night, we can start moving on. I just want to make something clear to you. We are witches. We are given these powers to protect the innocent from demons, not to punish the guilty. No matter how guilty they are, we are not supposed to use them to harm anyone. That's the first rule. I know you didn't know that at the time and you had nobody to guide you. I'm sure that all can be forgiven. And I can assure you, that protecting an innocent feels so much better than revenge. We will show you this in time. I promise you that. Never a dull day around here. You said your parents' murder is still unsolved?"

"Yeah. Those stupid cops can't figure it out. I can't figure it out. Granted, I don't have much to go on, but there's nothing. The place was burned down."

"Okay. Well, we happen to have a detective for a friend and I'll ask him to pull out the case and re-evaluate it and give us copies so we can look, too. We've dealt with a lot of demons over the years. I know it's a long shot, but it's possible that a demon killed your parents. I know a lot of humans will use fire to try to cover up their tracks, but I haven't heard of it going so far as to not leave much left. We'll check it out. But, until then, you have to promise me that you will not be going after ANYBODY, be they human or demon unless you have one of us around to have your back. I know you're not defenseless and you have a really good hand on all of your powers, but I'd rather be sure. Demons are much more dangerous than human perverts. Is that clear?"

"Perfectly," I nod.

"Good. Now, let's go ahead and have some lunch and we'll all talk some more and continue to get to know each other some more. No more sad and serious stuff today. There's time for that tomorrow after I've talked to Darrell. And tonight, you get to meet your nieces and brothers-in-law."

Paige and Phoebe look at Piper. "Since when?" Phoebe asks.

"Since this morning," Piper answers. "I offered to make some dinner tonight and we can all have a family dinner and she can get to know everyone if she was ready. She agreed already."

"Oh. Okay. I'll just text Henry and let him know, then," Paige says.

We all get up and head for the kitchen to have a little bit of lunch and to talk more.


	12. Reconnecting pt 2

We spent the day together, just laughing and getting to know each other. Paige and I are definitely a lot alike. We're both loners and very quick studies. They all told me stories of when they first found out about their powers and how they'd learned to control them and Paige was definitely the fastest learner. Just like me.

Before I knew it, it was already 5 o'clock and Phoebe and Paige were leaving to go get their husbands and kids for all of us to meet and Leo and the kids were orbing back in from Magic School.

"Hi honey. Welcome back," Piper says as she greets her husband with a kiss and takes Chris into her arms and gives him a hug.

"Hey. How'd everything go today?" he asks.

"Really well. I think we dealt with a lot of her inner demons and got that sisterly bond up and running already."

I just smile shyly in the doorway between the hall and the living room.

"Well that's good. I'm happy to hear you guys are all getting along so well already. That's good. That means there will be fewer surprises when the next demon attacks and you'll all be able to work as a team," he responds. "I still can't believe all these years it was all about the power of three and now it's really the power of four."

"The Halliwells are full of surprises, but you already knew that didn't you?" Piper asks her husband with a mischievous smile as she leans in for another kiss.

Leo kisses her back and says, "Of course I did. And I married you because that's one of the things that I have always loved about you. Always so full of surprises."

"Okay," I finally speak up. "Not that I mind standing here watching you two flirt so mercilessly, I'm going to go ahead and head up to my room and get freshened up before dinner."

"And I need to finish cooking it. Leo, we are going to have a family dinner tonight. Would you mind getting the boys ready?" Piper asks.

"Of course. Not a problem," he says as he turns to me. "So you decided you were ready to meet the full brood tonight, huh?"

"Yeah. I spent almost my whole life without a family of any kind, so I don't want to waste any time getting to know my real one now that you're all here and I know you exist."

"Definitely a Halliwell. Family first. But don't worry, that's a really good thing. Especially in this family. I'm sure you've heard some stories already," he smiles.

I smile back with a light chuckle and say, "I have. I now understand what you meant about us needing to bond other than the fact that I've never had a family and needed some support."

"You got it. Well, let's get everyone ready, shall we?" Leo says as he takes the boys upstairs to get them washed up and dressed and I follow to do the same on my own.

About an hour later, all of us are refreshed and dinner is ready and Paige and her family are orbing into the manor as Phoebe and her family appear in a pink haze that started as a heart. I'm going to have to ask her about that one. That one's kind of weird.

Paige is the first to talk as she says, "Pres, I'd like for you to meet my husband Henry," she says as she gently places a hand on his shoulder. "And these are our kids Henry Jr., Jessica, and Elizabeth. Jessica and Elizabeth are fraternal twins, just like we are," she continues. "Guys, this is my twin sister that we just found out about, Preseley. But she prefers to be called Pres."

Henry walks up to me with his hand outstretched to shake my hand. "Nice to finally meet you. Paige has been talking nonstop about her twin for the last week or so. I guess you gave them the slip more than once as she said you were pretty hard to track. Took them about a week to finally find you."

I shake his hand and smile and say, "Sorry. I didn't know I was being tracked by family at the time, otherwise I would have stopped right away and joined in."

"Oh no worries. I'm just giving you grief as your brother-in-law. It's my right," he responds with a wink. "Kids, come say hello to your Aunt Pres."

As he says this, my three beautiful nieces and nephew step up and say hello as they hug me around my legs, not quite tall enough to hug me around my shoulders or waist. I bend down to hug them back with unshed tears in my eyes. "It's so nice to finally meet you guys. Paige, they're beautiful."

"Thank you," she says.

After the moment finally passes, Phoebe speaks up and says, "Pres, this is my husband Coop. He's a Cupid. And these are our daughters Prudence and Penelope." She then places a hand on her stomach and continues, "And we have a third on the way. Just found out this morning and I thought tonight might be a good time to announce the upcoming addition."

Now everybody was excitedly clamoring as everyone turned to congratulate Phoebe and Coop on their pregnancy. I was involved in all of this, too. At least I get to be involved this time with another new niece or nephew. I hug Phoebe and say, "Oh my god, I'm so happy for you! Can I be with you every step of the way?"

"Of course you can, sweetie. And I'm sorry if I stole some of your thunder of your homecoming. I really didn't mean to."

"No, you didn't! You're more than fine. I honestly couldn't be happier that I get to be an aunt to another baby and I get to be involved this time!" I say as I jump around a little bit while still hugging my sister.

"That's good. I'm really happy that you're happy, but all this bouncing around probably isn't the best thing in the world."

"Oh! Sorry!" I apologize as I immediately stop jumping and let go of my hug. I chuckle self-consciously and turn hug my nieces and Coop. "A Cupid, huh? Is that why you guys came in with that pink-hazed heart thing?"

He laughs at this and responds, "Yes. That would be why."

"That is cool. Only thing I can do is tell the ground below me to help me run away from things faster and use a breeze to help with that, too."

"Right. Phoebe was telling me you had powers over the elements. Hey, don't kick a gift horse in the mouth. That's still a handy thing to have if you really need to get yourself out of danger. Transporting isn't always reliable. Other magical beings can track it and follow you," he explains.

I nod and say, "Hmm. I never really thought of that. But then again, I'm still really new to the whole transporting and demon stuff, so it never was a thing for me."

"Don't worry. I'm sure you'll be a straight-A student. Your sisters have a lot to teach you and knowledge to transfer on to you."

I smile and say, "Yes. I'm eager to learn everything that everyone can teach me." I turn back to Henry and ask, "So, Henry, what are your powers?"

"Oh, no powers for me. I'm fully human. Our kids have inherited their mother's talents, but I'm human," Henry replies.

"Oh. What about you, Leo?" I ask.

"I am human now as well, but I used to be a Whitelighter like Paige, only I was a full Whiteligher and she's half witch. I even spent some time as an Elder, but I essentially retired from that and became a human. Now I just teach at magic school as a human," he responds.

"Oh." I say as all of us take a seat at the dinner table. "How would that work, then? You call it magic school, but you don't have powers anymore."

"Simple, actually. And it's actually easier to not have powers. You see, everyone has different magical powers. Take you and your sisters as an example. You're the only one who can control the elements. Paige is the only one in the family so far who actively heals us if we're wounded and can move things with her mind. Phoebe can see the past and the future as well as levitate and is an empath, and Piper can either speed up or slow down molecules. It's much the same with the children at magic school. So, since I no longer have powers of my own, it's up to the kids to know their own magic and control it. The staff and I just help guide them through that learning process of control while they also learn other things like literature and math and all of that in a safe place. Just because we're all magical doesn't mean we can slack off on the mortal knowledge as well," Leo explains.

"Oh. Well that makes sense. Thank you for explaining that to me. Would it be alright for me to go with you to magic school sometime? I'd love to see it. And I'd love to learn a few new things while I'm there, as well."

"Of course. That would actually probably be for the best. We have a combat training room that you could use if you wanted. I'm actually looking for a new instructor for that class right now, but the room is vacant. You and your sisters could safely train there."

"I'd love that," I smile. "I really can't wait."

We all continue talking and eating the dinner Piper prepared for us. She made a pot roast with roasted potatoes and roasted green beans. All of which are divine. Everything that I put in my mouth seems to melt on my tongue and my taste buds are in heaven. She also made a couple of apple pies for dessert and I can only imagine how great those will taste at this point. It's just so awesome to finally have a family again. Especially one that's as large and as magical as this one. I really couldn't have asked for more.

Just as we are finished up our dinner and gearing up for dessert, Phoebe gasps and closes her eyes as she falls into another vision. She comes out of it a moment later and says, "Henry, Leo, Coop, get the kids! A large group of demons is going to attack and they're going to hurt them!"

Just as she finishes warning everybody, five men shimmer into the room and begin attacking us with weird blue lightning balls. I immediately raise my hands and summon a giant ball of fire around them and keep it as hot as I can without damaging the house or hurting anybody else. I hear them screaming, but it's still a different scream from a human. This feels so much better than killing a person, even if the human did deserve it.

After just a few seconds of my summoning the fire to kill these demons that were going to harm my family, they completely disappear in five puffs of smoke and I release the flames. I look around to make sure nothing got damaged and nobody got hurt. There's a few black spots on the walls from where the demons shot those funny electric things and missed someone, but it doesn't look like I damaged anything. Everybody is looking at me with shock on their faces.

"What? They were attacking you and I was helping. Was I not supposed to?" I ask Piper with confusion and uncertainty on my face.

"No, honey, you did great. They were definitely out to kill us or the kids. We're all just shocked at how fast it all happened. None of us got a chance to respond before you took them out. How'd you do that without burning down the house?" she asks me.

I shrug and just say, "I've spent a lot of time practicing and honing all of my powers. That's one of the ways I learned how, was to make some fire and hold it in a concentrated area and make it as hot as possible while still keeping it contained and minimizing damage. That, and the speed of it all. I was constantly training my reflexes. I didn't know what I was going to be facing on my path, so I trained everything as much as I could on my own."

Leo asks me, "You learned all of that on your own?"

"Yes."

"Well, I'm sure there's even more that you could learn, depending on exactly what you trained yourself to do, but I think I just found my new combat training instructor. I've never seen anybody as fast as you are, and I'm sure you could teach the next generation of witches so much of what you already know as you learn even more."

"Really?" I ask with shock on my face.

"Really," everyone else in the room responds at the same time.

* * *

**A/N: For those of you who are wondering where Billie's at, don't worry. I will be bringing her into the story next chapter or two. I wanted to focus more on just the family for this.**

**Also, if you have a story idea for this, please don't be shy. I'm not in a huge hurry to get to the ultimate destiny and finale for this story and would be happy to hear them. I'll squeeze it in and give you a shout out!**

**And I wanted to send out huge thank you's to those who have commented/followed/favorited. You guys make my day and keep me going. Thank you!**

**And before I let you go, I wanted to let you all know that my husband got transferred at work and we're in the middle of picking up and leaving pretty fast. I will try my hardest to not let this affect my updating schedule which has been running at 3 weeks in between, but chances are very high it's still going to happen no matter how hard I try since there's so much to do, so I just wanted to warn you guys.**


	13. Magic School pt 1

I wake up the next morning happier than I ever thought possible. Not only am I finally reconnected with my real family after believing that I didn't have one for so many years, but I also just got a really cool job. I can't believe Leo is hiring me on to be the magic school's combat instructor for the advanced students who have already passed their other basic classes while simultaneously making me a student so I can learn all the other magic and non-magic things I've missed. Doesn't get cooler than that.

I get up and take a quick shower before Piper or Leo or anybody else needs to use the bathroom and I get dressed in some of Piper's old jeans and a red V-neck shirt that she doesn't wear anymore. She said she'll take me out shopping over the weekend and get me some clothes of my own that fit better. I suppose she's right since they're just barely too big on me, but they're still the nicest things I've ever worn.

I go downstairs to find Piper just getting ready to serve everyone a breakfast of eggs, toast, bacon, and hashbrowns. It smells heavenly.

"Morning, Piper!"

"Good morning. I'm glad you're already up and ready. I was wondering if I was going to need to wake you up so you could get there on time, but I see that I don't need to after all," she says with a smile.

"Who could sleep in late when there's so much exciting stuff going on?"

"Good point and I'm glad you're excited. I still can't believe that you managed to kill all those demons last night with such a hot fire and manage to not damage the house. The last time we had a firestarter in the house, she set fire to a sweater and some other things. And another time we had a young man who could start fires and he set fire to a couch before he managed to set fire to his demon foster parents. But there were only two of those and they weren't near anything flammable, unlike those guys last night."

"Well, like I said, I've tried to practice as much control as I can and to practice for all possibilities. Not setting fire to a house was one thing. Granted, I'll admit that I set fire to the foster home I spent so many years trapped in, but that was done on purpose. Not something I'm proud of now, but at least I made sure that none of the other kids got hurt as they escaped." I admit with regret in my voice.

"Alright. Wow. Yes, I'll give you that one. I'm glad you've tried to practice restraint and haven't burned down other buildings. You haven't, have you?"

"No. That was the only one. And I only did it because I hated it so and I spent so much time being abused and tortured there that I just wanted it gone, so that's what I did."

"I can't say I completely understand, but I do understand some of it. You were in pain and dealing in the only way you felt was possible at the time. At least nobody got hurt at that time."

"No. The nurse and the director happened later since they weren't there at that time. And I made theirs quicker than I did Jerry's. I'll admit I was playing with him for all the hell he put me through."

"Okay. Good to know. I guess. But no more talk of that. I hear the kids are up and moving now and I don't want them hearing things like that. I do want to try to keep them as innocent for as long as I can. Try to give them a somewhat normal childhood even though they're not normal and never will be. They'll have the rest of their lives to deal with the human and non-human evils of the world."

"My lips are sealed, Piper. Thanks." I say as I sit down to have some of this breakfast. All this talking with all these delicious smells roaming around are just making my mouth water and my stomach grumble at the delay.

I immediately start eating the food Piper prepared as Leo and the boys come down. "Smells fabulous as always. Thank you, honey," he says as he gives his wife a gentle kiss on the lips.

"You're welcome. Now eat up. You guys apparently have a big day ahead of you. I might even decide to join you guys later after I check on the restaurant and club to make sure everything's still going okay there. I've been neglecting them for the last few days while we were out looking for you and then getting to know you. I should really check in. The blessings and curses of being a business owner," Piper says to both of us as Leo, Piper, and the kids sit down and follow my lead on eating our breakfast.

We eat in silence and after about 15 minutes, everyone is finished and we are all clearing our dishes and putting them in the sink.

"Don't worry about the dishes today, Leo. I'll do them before I head out. You should get going so you can get the boys settled before you help Pres get settled and everything else you do up there." She turns to me and continues, "And you have a good day learning and teaching. Don't burn the place down," she winks.

I just chuckle at her and say, "Don't worry. I won't be. Promise."

"Alright. Shall we be heading off now?" Leo asks me.

"Yeah. Let's go. I'm excited to see this place."

"Alright," he says as he head out to Wyatt and Chris to get them out of their seats and I follow him.

"Bye, Piper!" both Leo and I call out.

"Bye!"

"Okay, Wyatt. Would you mind taking the four of us to magic school, please?" Leo asks of Wyatt as he holds onto Chris and reaches for my hand. I grab on to his hand as Wyatt nods at us with such surprising understanding for such a young kid as he reaches out and touches his dad's leg and orbs all of us to magic school.

I am in awe at how big this place is. I think Wyatt took us to the library of the place because it is just filled with shelves with books upon books. I even see some teenagers already roaming around, some are floating and others are walking. I see what I assume to be the librarian sorting a cart of books with waves of her hand and they float to where they're supposed to go at her will.

"THIS is magic school?" I ask.

"It is," Leo answers proudly. "Tons of knowledge here and of course, tons of magic. All of which has been warded against demons. None of them can get here. That's why the kids tend to come here if there's a demon attack at home."

"Wow. Definitely bigger than I had ever imagined it to be. With more people, too. I never realized there were so many witches or that I was one. This is just so amazing!" I ramble on and on.

"I'm pretty sure you'll find yourself right at home here. Here, let's go drop the boys off at the nursery and I'll show you around."

"Yeah, yeah..." I drop off whatever I'm saying. I'm just too amazed at all the books here and the students openly using magic as they make their way to their classes or just sit and study. I dazedly follow Leo down a long corridor to what is definitely a nursery for magic kids still just a little too young for classes as I would know them to be. Again, I see young children ranging from about a year old to about five years old playing with toys and each other and openly using their magic. I never would have imagined this, that's for sure.

Leo puts down Chris and Wyatt is already off to play with his friends. A woman walks up to us and says, "Good morning, Leo. Who do you have with you today?"

"Good morning, Phyllis. This is Preseley, but just call her Pres. She's Paige's twin that we just learned about a few days ago. I've actually just hired her on to be our combat instructor for the more advanced students. Pres, this is Phyllis. She's the nursery director. She takes care of the younger kids until they're old enough for classes."

I reach out my hand to hers and say, "Pleased to meet you."

"And pleased to meet you. Who would have guessed there was yet another Charmed one running around? I sure didn't!"

"Well, I didn't know, either," I politely respond.

"Oh, I didn't mean any offense and I apologize if I did. It's just a surprise to everyone that Paige had a twin."

"No, you're fine. I just didn't know I was a twin, either. But now that I know, it just makes a lot of sense. I knew I had powers, but didn't realize I was a witch or came from such a magically inclined family."

"Of course. Well, welcome aboard to magic school. I do hope you enjoy your time here with us."

"I'm sure I will. I'm still so surprised there's so many witches around."

"I'm sure there's more surprises to come, my dear. Do take care of yourself."

I nod as Leo and I head out. I am only half listening as Leo takes us through the entirety of magic school and he shows me all the various classrooms. Most of them have classes starting already, so we don't interrupt them. My mind is now starting to have trouble absorbing everything. This place is just so huge and there are so many children of varying ages running around, using their magic and gaining control. What I wouldn't give to have been able to grow up like they did. Even if I still never knew my parents, it would have just been so much more free here.

I finally bring myself back to full attention as I hear Leo saying, "And this is the combat training room. This will be your classroom. I do want you to spend as much time as you can learning whatever you would like to, but this is where you will be teaching your classes. Here we have enchanted dummies. They'll re-form after taking whatever damage is dealt to them. Saves a lot of time having to rebuild them. It's also a lot safer than what we used to have. We actually used to have some indestructible demons that were mentally chained so they couldn't harm the students, but a few years back and a lot of troubles, they managed to get loose of those chains and free from the school and tried to kill the students that used to practice on them. Since these are not demons who can escape, this is definitely safer. The room is also indestructible so that we don't have to keep recreating the room. Accidents have happened and we learned that the hard way."

"I can certainly understand that one. How'd you enchant them to rebuild themselves?" I ask as I look around. These training dummies are beige colored and are all around the room, just lining the walls. They look like the Medievil-type of combat dummies they used for sword and bow training. There's maybe about a couple dozen of these things and the room is huge.

"That's a story for another day. It took magic, obviously, and some creative spell working. Actually, now that we're here, I'd love to see more of what you can do. Maybe you can hone your abilities even more with someone else to watch you and point out whatever they can see. I've actually already had my classes covered with a substitute teacher for today so that I can spend more time with you and getting you introduced to everything around here. So I know you can control the elements, but can you explain to me exactly what it is you know what to do and how you do it?"

"I don't know what else you can teach me, I've taught myself everything that should be possible, but okay. I might as well since I'm a simultaneous student and teacher here now. Um, well, like you said, I can control the elements. I can summon fire at will and control it however I wish. Or I can take an existing flame and control that however I want. Actually, it's pretty much the same for all of it. Water, air, earth. I can either control or conjure them at will. I'll admit I'm quicker to summon fire than anything else since it's usually the fastest and most destructive."

"So that's why you chose fire last night. Okay. Makes sense. But I do also want to point out that you have some major capabilities and point out that fire isn't the only or most destructive element. Sure, it's pretty quick, but the others are just as fast and destructive. Take for example floods. They actually cause a lot of problems in large areas. Air, have you seen the destruction that tornadoes can create? And earth. We live in San Francisco. I shouldn't have to explain earthquakes."

"Okay. Right. You're right. I actually didn't think of those or those reasons. You're right. Fire is still pretty quick, though."

"I'm not arguing on that one. I'm just saying that you have a lot of powers. You can harness so much in such a short amount of time, so don't neglect the others just because you tend to favor the quickness of fire's destruction. Look at your sister Piper as a quick example. She can both speed up and slow down molecules, or basically she can temporarily stop time or speed it up to the point that an object will explode. Both are very useful in different circumstances. Much like your own powers. The circumstances and usefulness of each will always be changing."

"I understand. But don't worry, I haven't neglected anything. I'm good with pretty much anything you'll be able to throw at me."

"Glad to hear it. So, one more question before we get started. Do you always lift your hands when you call your powers, or can you control them mentally as well?"

"Well, a little of both. It's easier to direct what I'm doing when I use my hands to direct, but I can do everything mentally as well."

"Okay. Can you show me, then? Seeing as we're in a safe place, I don't see why not."

"Sure. Anything in particular you wish me to do?"

"No. Just go ahead and demonstrate whatever you can think of for right now."

"Okay. Not a problem. Could you stand in the middle of the room since there's none of those dummy things there? And don't worry, I'll make sure not to hurt you."

"Good. Thanks. I appreciate that and I'm sure Piper will, too." He says as he obliges my request.

"I'm sure she would." I answer with a smile.

I close my eyes and take a moment to center my thoughts. Since he's already seen me raise my hands to create fire and kill some demons in it, I'm going to show him my other capabilities and without hands. We're in a giant room that's indestructible, so this will be easy.

I open my eyes and just go ahead and start with my favorite. Fire. I summon in my mind a giant fire and it instantly comes to being in the middle of the room just a few feet away from Leo, awaiting my command. I smile as I will it to expand to the outline of the room and avoid Leo as it expands. It jumps up above Leo's head as it grows to my commands and re-settles about three feet away from the floor. I then will it to start circling around and destroy the dummies in its fiery rage. It instantly obliges to my mental commands and circles around and the dummies are immediately in flames and are soon no more. I then will the fire to die out.

"Very nice." I hear Leo saying as the dummies instantly rebuild themselves, just as he said before. That's definitely a neat trick.

"That's just the start, my friend." I respond as I do the same, but this time I decide to call water. There's now a giant bubble-shaped ball of water in the middle of the room and I do the same with the water as I did with the fire, only water isn't quite as destructive as the fire was, but I tell it to whip around the room really fast and it's only a matter of seconds before the pressure of the water moving around rips the dummies to shreds again. And as I release my control and will the water to disappear, the dummies again repair themselves.

"I must admit, you do have very impressive control. I was right to hire you for this."

"Thank you," I say as I pull the air in the room to do my bidding this time. I again whip it around the room like the fire and water before, but this time you only see the dummies being torn to shreds by the wind gusts I am forming in the room, much like a very isolated tornado.

Again, the dummies re-form as I summon some rocks into being with my mind and direct them to throw themselves at the dummies until they are full of holes. I just leave a pile of rocks in the corner this time.

As the dummies once again re-form themselves, I say to Leo a little breathlessly, "It's actually really hard to summon those and put them back. It's easier to just control them from below. That's why I usually don't use that one that much."

"Completely understandable, and I must say, I am impressed by your mental control. I didn't see you once raise your hands doing all of that."

"Didn't need to on something like that. Since I'm using the entire room, it's easier to not use my hands. When I need to concentrate on a certain area, it's easier to use my hands." I say as I summon a sharp gust of wind with one outstretched hand and destroy a single dummy target.

"I see. You definitely have practiced, and it certainly shows. I do have one question, though. When you summon up fire or anything, have you ever held it in your hands and has it ever harmed you in any way or anything like that?"

"I have, and no, it doesn't." I answer as I summon a small ball of fire into the palm of my hand and hold it there.

"Fascinating," I hear him saying under his breath as he investigates my hand. "Here's another question, because I have a feeling about something here. Have you ever set yourself aflame or anything? On purpose, of course. With your control."

"Actually, I don't think I have done that yet. But I will now." I say as I expand the flames to encompass my body. As the flames expand, I feel myself disappearing and before I know it, I'm a giant ball of flame. I don't mean that my body's on fire, it IS the fire. My body has disappeared as my body reshaped into a ball of flames. I roll around the room for a moment in this new form before I will it all away and I'm back to myself, completely unharmed.

"Yes. It appears that I was correct in my feeling about you," he says as he looks at me, impressed.

"What the hell did I just do!?"

* * *

**A/N: Little bit of a cliffhanger. Do you guys have any theories on that? :)**

**Couple of things, first off, thank you again to those who have followed and reviewed. You guys rock and I can't tell you all how much I appreciate the love. I had a guest review with a question that I would like to answer really quick for you. In season 7, episode 16, Leo was sentenced by the Elders for his betrayal to the Avatars to a test to see where he belonged because they felt that it was his dual responsibilities as an Elder and as a father that led him to betray them. He initially chose the Elders (because one of the head elders was a filthy cheater), but he did finally choose Piper and their family and fell from grace by throwing himself off the Golden Gate Bridge. When he hit the bottom, he was fully human. I do hope that that answers your question and please feel free to ask me more. **

**I am still in the middle of trying to move and have had absolutely no time to write. It's hard enough just doing this right now. It's definitely harder when you're packing the house by yourself. So, I broke my 'keep at least a chapter ahead' rule and am posting this. So yes, this means I haven't written part 2 yet. I will as soon as I get a chance, but I didn't want to leave you guys hanging for too horribly long. Hope you enjoyed it and I'll get back to it as soon as I can get the chance.**


	14. Magic School pt 2

"I'll admit to not being 100% sure on what you did, Pres, since I've never seen another witch with powers like yours. I've seen plenty of firestarters and Paige's past life could summon gusts of wind, but nobody who can control all of the elements like you can. What I'm thinking is that you're an elemental witch, which means that not only can you control the elements, you can control your body into the elements. Prue and Paige are good examples of this. Both had the power to move things with their minds, and that included being able to control their bodies. Prue could astral project herself into two places at once, and since Paige is half-whitelighter, she has the orbing power, but it's similar in that she can move herself with her mind."

I stare at Leo as he explains all of this to me. I still find it so hard to believe. I spent so many years honing my abilities and thinking of all possible outcomes that I can't believe I had even more powers at my disposal that I never knew about it. Finally I manage to ask, "Okay. I think I get that, but how? I spent so long training, how could I not know that I could do this?"

"Again, everyone has their natural abilities, but sometimes you just need a teacher. Someone who isn't you. Someone who can watch from the outside and give you a fresh perspective. Just as I have done for you now. I'm actually willing to bet now that you can do even more than that. I'm betting you can do so much more with your elemental powers than you know and you just need time and practice on it. I'm also thinking, based on what I know about you and what Piper has said about you that when you were training, you were focused more on honing your destructive abilities rather than practicing absolutely everything."

I think on his words for a minute with my arms crossed across my chest and focus my eyes on the floor. I'm willing to admit that he's right. I thought for years that my powers were a gift from God or whatever to make up for all the hell I've been through over the years and to give balance back to the world by taking out the abusers so they couldn't hurt anybody else. I never once stopped to think that the powers came from anywhere else or that they were supposed to be used for a higher calling like killing demons since I never saw one before yesterday or destinies or anything like that which I also learned yesterday.

I finally look up at my brother in law and say, "Okay. Yes, you are right. I did focus more on destruction than full possibilities. I thought possibilities, yes, but they were more the destructive possibilities. Now that I know the truth about who I am and where I come from, I want to learn more. I'm betting that I can get that knowledge from you and my sisters and this place. Please teach me."

"Happy to hear it and more than happy to oblige. Now, we know that you can control the elements to do the most destruction. We've only barely touched onto the fact that you can turn yourself into the elements as well, I think we should focus on that for now and we can move on from there. Sound good?"

I nod and he continues, "Okay. So, I'll let you do most of the work. I'm also willing to bet that you learn more by doing than just being told. We know now that you can turn yourself into a fireball. You also lose your person form when you do this. I'm sure it's the same for the others, but I would still like to see. Would you mind turning yourself into other forms while I watch?"

"Sure. I'll give it a shot," I say as I close my eyes and try to quieten my thoughts. As everything gets quiet inside, I will myself to turn into water. As I relax and focus on this desire, I feel myself disintegrate and fall to the floor as a puddle. I have to admit, while this experience is super weird, it's also super cool. I flow across the floor then I get curious when I start to think about rainstorms and how they form, so I concentrate on lifting myself off the floor in water form and it works. My body starts to evaporate into a cloud and I feel myself getting lifted up into the room. I then turn myself into a cloud and hover for a moment before I will myself to rain myself back down.

I repeat the process of turning myself into a cloud before curiosity calls again and think of another type of storm. I will myself to turn cold and fall to the ground again, this time as snow. Once my body gets to the floor again, I will myself to turn back into a person and look to Leo in shock. He actually looks almost as shocked as I am, but also extremely impressed.

"I'll admit, I didn't think you could turn yourself into a cloud, let alone snow. That is impressive. How'd you do that?"

"I'm not completely sure, myself. When I was on the floor as a water puddle, I just sort of got to thinking about all the various forms of water like rain storms and that, so just to see if I could do it, I concentrated on it and it happened. Then I got even more curious and willed myself to get really cold like snow and it just happened. I always knew I could control water, but I never did think of ice."

"I'll admit that I didn't, either, but it only makes sense. Ice is just frozen water and you can control all the elements however you like."

"This is true. But now I'm curious about one other thing," I say as I lift my hand and direct it towards one of the dummies in the room. I summon up forth water, but this time I tell it that I want it to be frozen. I feel as the water comes into being at my command and it instantly freezes as it comes forth and I direct it towards the dummy at the end of the room and it is impaled by a giant icicle.

"Now that is just plain cool!" I exclaim excitedly.

"Yes. It seems that you just discovered another destructive ability. I'm sure that will be very helpful in the future as you face more demons that are immune to fires. Very good."

"Thank you! Okay, now that my curiosity is sated, I guess we better get back to the task at hand. You wanted to see me turn myself into the elements I control." I take another deep breath and close my eyes again and will my mind to quiet back down from all the excitement from finding out what other powers I seem to have and never knew about. This time I think about the earth element and I feel my body harden as it turns itself into a giant boulder.

Pretty cool, but I find this form to be super boring, so I concentrate on turning myself into the wind. I feel myself become weightless and invisible as my body drops the rock look and turns into the air in the room. I let my "body" just disperse in the air molecules and am just invisible. Now this is wicked awesome.

"I'm assuming you just turned yourself into the air, Pres, since I can't see you. Air is oft times invisible. While you're there, I'm curious about this. Just like the water, you were able to change into different forms of water. I'm betting it's the same with the air. Can you turn yourself into a tornado or something similar? I just want to see you do it." I hear Leo calling out into the room.

I smile in my mind and instantly oblige as I pull myself back together and whirl myself around tighter and tighter and I feel myself become a miniature whirlwind and I am a tornado. I don't want to destroy anything right now, but I just stand there as my body continues to spin and spin in the same spot.

I finally release this form and bring myself back to my regular form and I just look at Leo and grin the biggest smile I can muster. I am so proud of myself right now. I may have new powers that I never knew about, but I seem to already have them under firm control.

"Very good, Pres. That was excellent! You didn't destroy anything, you just were. Your control is impeccable. If I were grading this, I'd have to give you extra credit or something."

"Thanks, Leo. I really appreciate it. I'll admit that I wish I knew I could do these things sooner, but I'm glad that I know now. I also can't help but wonder if I could do other things as well now."

"Oh, I'm sure you can. I have a few theories, myself, but I'd rather see them than experience them right now."

Just then a very attractive blonde walks into the room. "Hey Leo. Piper said you were here with the newest Charmed One and I had to come up and introduce myself, if that's okay?"

"Billie, yes. That's actually perfect timing. Billie, this is Pres, and it turns out that we need you for a bit, if you don't mind being a guinea pig?"

* * *

**A/N: I'm back! Thankfully didn't take as much time as initially thought, so as a celebration of us making it to our new house safely and me getting all the work done to get the house all nice and settled, I'm sharing part 2 of 3 of magic school. Like I said, I didn't want too much badassery in one spot, so I broke it up into 3 parts.**

**A huge thank you to the new follows and favorites. You guys rock!**

**I hope you all enjoyed part 2! What else do you think she can do? Let me know what you're thinking by leaving a contribution in the little box below.**


	15. Magic School pt 3

"Sure…." she draws out uncertainly. "But if you don't mind, first I'd like to meet her. Hi! I'm Billie I've known the other sisters for a few years now and I help them out with demons so they can have more time with their families. I'm to understand that you are Paige's twin?" she goes on as she reaches out to shake my hand.

"Yes. We're twins, I guess. Never knew about her or our other sisters. And I'm Pres." I respond as I reach out as well and we finally shake hands.

"Nice to meet you! Who would've thought there were even more Charmed Ones out there? I'm betting you have some badass powers, don't you? I have telekinesis and the power of projection, which means I can move things with my mind like Paige only different since I don't have any whitelighter in me and I can project things the way I want them to. Long story. What's your powers?"

"I have the power to summon and control all of the elements however I desire. Leo was just showing me a few new things that I can apparently do but never realized I could."

"That's awesome! And Leo rocks, doesn't he?"

"He does."

"At least he's starting you off on the more fun stuff. When I first started training with him, it was all book learning and boring. I finally decided I wanted to come up here to magic school to learn other stuff and..."

"Okay ladies. Thank you for the flattery." Leo interrupts. "I believe that would be a story better served for another time. Now that you've been properly introduced and have chatted a moment, Billie, would you mind trying out a few theories with Pres for me? Don't worry, she does have impressive control and have the utmost confidence that you will not be harmed while we do this."

"Oh. Right. Yeah, sure. Where do you want me?"

"Where you are right now should be perfect, actually. Pres, I want you to make contact with Billie and do what we were doing a moment ago. Turn yourself and Billie into an element simultaneously."

"You seriously think I can turn more than just myself into something, then?"

"I do. Now show me you have faith in yourself and your abilities and give it a shot."

"Alright." I take a deep and calming breath and grab Billie's hand. She smiles at me encouragingly and I smile back. I breathe again and close my eyes. I concentrate harder than I ever have before because I really don't want to accidentally hurt her trying this experiment. I will myself and Billie change from our human forms into a water puddle. I don't want to try the fireball first since I'm so worried she'll get hurt. It's one thing for me to do it, it's my power, but it's another to bring a friend along for the transformational ride.

As I feel myself disintegrate into a puddle of water, I push the command along to make sure Billie joins me. I feel the hand in mind begin to disintegrate into a water puddle as well. I know it sounds funny, but I am just really relieved right now that I didn't try the fireball first and that this is actually working. She's morphing into a water puddle right next to me. We finally fall to the floor as giant water puddles; our human bodies essentially nonexistant.

"Good job, Pres! I knew you could do it!" I hear Leo say as he looks at us.

"Woah! Did we seriously just both turn into water puddles?" I hear Billie ask next to me to no one in particular. I think she's almost as surprised as I am that I just did this.

"Yes, Billie, you're a water puddle right next to Pres. We discovered today that Pres can not only just summon or control the elements, but she can turn herself into them as well. Now we officially know that she can turn other people into the elements right along with her. That will be a very handy talent, I'm sure, Pres."

"Wait. You can hear us?" I ask.

"Yes. You didn't talk the last time unless you were yourself, so know you also know that if you are needing stealth, you can't talk aloud or you will be caught."

"Right…. Got it. Weird, but I got it."

"Care to try some other forms? I realize this will take practice before you get as proficient with this as you are with your others, that's why I'd like you to try this now."

"Um, sure. Yeah, I'll give it a try." I respond as I concentrate again on turning myself and Billie into something else. I go ahead and try the giant boulder thing and I feel myself rematerialize and my skin harden into rock. I focus as hard as I can on making sure Billie doesn't stay a puddle and I feel her body morphing right next to mine into two giant rocks.

"Dude! You're totally just _rocking_ it out now, aren't you?" She asks with a chuckle behind her statement.

"Did you just seriously make that pun? I mean really? You went for that one?" I ask.

She just laughs heartily in this shape and goes, "Yep, I sure did!"

I can't roll my eyes in this form since this form doesn't have eyes, but I do it in my mind. I can't believe she went with a pun like that. I concentrate again on turning us into an air form and I feel myself and her losing the rock forms and disappearing into the air in the room. We are completely weightless in this form and before she gets a chance to make another lame pun, I focus on turning us into dual non-destructive tornados. We both just spin around each other in the room, destroying nothing in the room. We just are.

"Wow. Okay, I can't make a pun here. This is just way too cool by any standard of the word," she says.

"Thank you. I have one more I want to try today before we quit, though. I'm getting really tired and hungry." I say.

"I can imagine, Pres. You've expelled a lot of power today doing this and you will need time to recharge." I hear Leo saying as I concentrate one final time. This time I'm going to face my fear and make sure that Billie doesn't get hurt while we do this. I might as well stop for the morning with a bang.

I clear my thoughts and will myself and I will Billie to turn into two giant fireballs. I feel my body get hot as it turns into the flames I want it to turn into and I feel the same is going on for Billie. I concentrate even harder still to be absolutely sure that she doesn't get hurt. I've seen what my flames can do to people and to places, and I don't want that to happen to her. She seems really nice and I think we could probably be fast friends.

Finally as the final parts of the air forms disappear and turn into the flames of our bodies, I hear Billie say, "Wow! I never thought I could ever be on fire and not be in massive pain! Pres, I know you're doing this and this is beyond amazing!"

I smile internally as I focus on dropping the flame forms and we both return to our bodily forms, completely unharmed. I am so tired now.

I see Billie's incredulous face as I lean over onto my knees and just breathe. I really can't believe how tired I am now. It's all I can do to keep standing.

"Don't worry. The fatigue will pass. That's just what happens when you practice something totally new to you. I still can't believe you turned me into a fireball and a tornado and everything else, all in one day!" I hear Billie rattling on.

"Looks like my hypothesis about you turned out to be correct," I hear Leo say. "The amount of powers you harness is amazing and probably quite limitless. With even more time and practice, I'm willing to bet you'd be your own Charmed party."

As Leo finishes, a couple of white orbs materialize and spin around in the room and Piper appears. She walks over and gives her husband a kiss. "Hey guys. I had a feeling that you'd want a big lunch today. Looking at Pres hunched over like that right now, it seems that my surmise was correct."

I just smile faintly at her as Billie waves her hands and a table and four chairs materialize into the room for us to use. I look at the new items with a confused look on my face but make my way to a chair and sit down.

"You'll come to love how handy I can be with a projection power," she says nonchalantly.

"I'm sure I will," I say as Piper and Leo come over as well and Piper lays out the lunch she made for us. Looks like she brought us some pot roast sandwiches and steamed veggies. My mouth is watering because not only am I hungry, it smells amazing. Leave it to Piper to make something healthy look and smell so not healthy.

"Well, Piper. You were definitely right on us wanting a big lunch," I say as I chuckle faintly.

"Yes, indeed. It seems that your sister here is more powerful than any of us realized. And I still have a feeling that we've really only just tapped into her potential."

"Wow. So, it sounds like you're saying that the power of three set us all free, but with the power of four, the power will pour?"

"Yes." Leo and Billie say simultaneously.

"Great. I wonder what destiny she has in store for herself and us, then?" she asks as we all dig into our food. The question just hangs in the air, unanswered.


	16. Closure pt 1

It's been a pretty tough few weeks already. I've been training with Leo to further hone all of my abilities in ways that I never quite knew I could do. I've also been teaching students. Seeing as my class is already an advanced lesson, the only ones I do teach are teenagers who have surpassed in all of their other classes. From what I understand about it, it's like those AP classes they do in regular high schools. This knowledge just makes me prouder that I got the position and makes me work harder to make sure these kids have honed skills for when the real world hits like it did for me much too young.

I've been spending a lot of time with Billie and my sisters. I was right that Billie and I would be fast friends. We have a lot in common. We're both badasses in our own rights and we never really got to know our sisters. Only, I'm lucky in the fact that my sisters weren't brainwashed by demons when they were kids and I didn't have to kill them for the greater good. I still feel horrible for her for that. She has guts, that's for sure.

I'm getting closer and closer with all my sisters and my nieces and nephews. With Paige and me, we've already got a deep bond where we only have to share a quick look to know what we're thinking. Probably one of those perks and curses of being a twin. I can't keep anything from her. But that's really okay with me. I'm glad we're finally all back together. I actually learned that all of us Charmed sisters have this bond, but it's stronger between Paige and me. I think that's awesome.

All of these thoughts roll through my head as I slowly wake up. It's finally a Saturday and I just let myself sleep in. It's exhausting being a teacher and a student at the same time. I finally wake up and take a hot shower and get dressed and head downstairs. Piper's probably already cleaned up from breakfast for her, Leo, and the boys, so I'll probably just end up having a bowl of cereal or something. Oh well. One morning without her cooking won't kill me.

I walk down the stairs to find Paige, Piper, and Phoebe sitting at the dining room table talking with a tall, muscular, and not at all bad-looking African-American man. Paige must've felt me coming because she turns and looks at me with a small smile that doesn't quite reach her eyes. My stomach instantly drops because that can't be good. Her smile always reaches her eyes, so this can't be good.

"Morning, sunshine," she finally says as everyone turns to look at me.

"Morning. What's going on?" I ask.

"Not much, but it looks like we might have a few answers for you. Pres, I'd like to you meet Darryl. He's a good family friend of ours and we always do a lot of favors for each other. He's also that inspector I told you about a while back. He's been looking into your parents' murder case for us and he was just explaining some of his findings. Have a seat, you'll want to hear this," Piper explains.

"Okay. Sure." My stomach drops even further. I'm just not quite sure if I'm ready to handle this. My appetite is definitely gone now.

I finally take a seat and give Darryl a half-smile. I think he can tell I'm nervous about this because he gives me a big and reassuring smile. "Nice to finally meet you Pres and I'm sorry that we're meeting under these circumstances."

"Yeah. Me too. I won't mince words and just say that this sucks. But thanks for looking into it. I guess I need the closure."

"Everyone does. That's just human nature. So, I'll just cut to the chase here since they know some of it and I've known everyone else here long enough to know when we've stumbled onto something. So, from what I understand, you were six when this happened and you were not home, right?"

"No. I wasn't. I was at school and some cops took me out and broke the news to me and then put me in that hell hole."

"Right. Unfortunately I don't think that's improved, either. Nobody wants to tell someone their family is gone, let alone when they are just a kid. And the foster system is broken. Has been for a long time. So, from what I've seen in this case, your parents had gotten home from dropping you off when an unidentified person or persons attacked. It's not clear from these reports if the assailant was already in the house or broke in later. Judging from the crime scene photos, I would say they were already inside or invited in because there were no broken or open windows and no signs of forced entry at the doors."

"Right. From what little I understood at the time, that's one of the reasons the case still hasn't been solved. They had no clues to go on to figure out who attacked."

"Yes. Unfortunately we needed better clues, but like I said, I've known the others for way too long to not figured out something."

"You mean you found a new clue? That the original cops missed?"

"Yes, actually. They obviously didn't know about witches and demons and all of that like I do now, working with you," he continues as he pulls out a photo. It's a picture of my mom. The tears are coming to the surface instantly because she's obviously dead in this and I've never seen this picture before.

In it, she's on the floor and covered in blood. There's multiple dark spots all over her torso, which I assume to be knife wounds. Blood's all over her face and you can tell that some of it came from her nose since there's still some caked right by it. The blood is matted in her blonde hair, too. She must've been dead for a while before they took this. There's also burn marks on and around her body. I take the picture and stare for a moment. The rest of the pictures that I ever had of her were burned with the house and this must be the last one of her to exist. And she's dead in it. The irony and pain is not lost on me.

Darryl continues as I keep looking at her, "As you can see, she was put through a bit of a wringer and she did try to put up a fight. According to the coroner's report, she was stabbed 14 times. You can see about half of those on her there."

"Yeah. I can," I cry.

"I'm sorry, I'm trying to make this brief for you. I know this is immensely painful."

"Thank you. Please. Continue," I say as I put the picture down on the table and look back up at Darryl so I can focus on his words and hopefully a little less on the pain in my heart. I can see in the corners of my eyes my sisters looking at me expectantly and comfortingly. This whole situation sucks, but I am glad that they're here for me.

"Right. Well, I can tell by some of these other crime scene photos," he continues as he pulls out some more pictures of the house where I used to live. These were taken after the fire. All of our belongings were completely destroyed, but the house still stood. I never did quite understand how that happened. He pulls out one picture in particular and hands it to me.

It's a picture of a wall inside. I think it was the living room, but I'm not sure. It's just the wall and nothing else really around to help me identify where it was taken. There's a very dark mark on the wall just above my dad's head. He looks just as bad as my mom did, with blood and burn marks everywhere.

Paige finally speaks up as she reaches for one of my hands and points at the dark mark with the other. "Do you see that mark right there?"

"Yeah. It's obviously a burn mark. The house was burned after they were killed."

"Yes. But that's not a regular burn mark," Darryl says. "I'll let Paige and them explain this part."

Paige gives him a smile of thanks and continues, "No. It's not a regular burn mark. You see how it's circular and is in one spot before it fans out a little bit?"

"Yeah? So?" I really don't get where this is going. All I can see are the bodies of my dead adoptive parents and it hurts. I have no nice pictures of them to remember them by. Just pictures of their dead bodies.

"Look sweetie, I know you're hurting bad right now. We'll take a break after this and before we start on a plan. Just stay with me for one more minute."

I take a deep, cleansing breath and close my eyes for a moment to clear out the tears. As I open my eyes, I say. "Okay."

"Thank you. Alright, your parents were stabbed by a double-sided knife, also called an athame. And that burn mark is an energy ball mark. Energy balls started that fire in your house."

It's finally starting to piece together in my grief stricken mind. "You mean….my parents weren't murdered by people? They were murdered by demons?"

"Exactly," is all I hear as I break out into sobs. Demons killed my parents.

* * *

**Hey guys. Sorry for the long update. It's been tough. New job and everything. Just trying to adjust and there's some bumps in the road. Don't worry, I haven't abandoned this story! I love it too much.**

**Please let me know what you think by leaving a little contribution in the box below. Thank you for reading and following! You guys rock!**


	17. Closure pt 2

My sisters and Darryl gave me some space to grieve for about an hour. I just went back to my room and cried myself out. When I finally finished, I washed my face off with cold water to reduce some of the swelling in my eyes. I never did fully deal with their deaths and it's definitely past time that I do. I can't keep moving forward until I finally find some closure with it.

I take a deep breath to steady myself and my turmoil of emotions. Demons killed my parents and I'm done with the revenge game I've spent so many years playing. But they were innocents. We protect the innocent. If those demons are still alive, they're hurting other innocents and that has to stop. I know what I have to do to really start making things right.

I go back downstairs and find my sisters in the sun room. Darryl must've gone home since I don't see him anymore.

"Hey," I say to them.

"How are you feeling?" Phoebe asks me. She has a very small pooch starting to form where my future niece or nephew is growing. She's probably about 3 or 4 months along now. I'm still excited to be a part of this with her, even though I'm feeling torn down and ripped apart at the moment.

"A little better. It still hurts a bit because this whole situation sucks, but I'm coming to terms with things. Demons killed my parents. And I think that if they haven't been vanquished already, they need to be. Not for revenge. I've learned my lesson. But they can't keep hurting innocents and orphaning other little girls and boys, either."

"We're with you 100%, Pres. Don't worry. We agree, actually. Normally we don't go looking for trouble, but if this hasn't been snuffed out already, it'll come to us anyway. It usually does. We were actually thinking of starting at your old house to see if Phoebe can get any premonitions to give us a little more to go on. Do you think you're ready for that?" Piper asks.

"As I'll ever be," I answer. "I don't think I'll ever be prepared for all of this, but we have a job to do and I'm not about to shirk my duties the first chance I have just because it hurts. And I actually think you guys are in luck. I don't think they ever tore the house down, it's just condemned. I think they left it up because of the fact that it's still unsolved. They actually did us a favor."

"Good. Yes, that's actually very helpful. Normally we have something fresher to go on, so this is where we have to start. Paige, can you sense the house to make sure it's empty and then orb us over? I don't think it'd be a good idea to drive over there. Since it's most likely condemned, someone will notice we're there and that's just not good," Piper says.

"Yeah, sure. Not a problem," Paige responds as she gives me a reassuring smile and squeeze of my hand. She then closes her eyes as she senses my old house for anybody who might be staying there just for the shelter. I don't imagine it'd be better than where I was staying when they found me. At least it was just an abandoned warehouse. This place was burned almost to the ground, so I don't imagine it'd be offering any safe shelter.

Paige finally opens her eyes again and says, "Yep, it's all clear. You guys ready to give this a shot?"

There are murmurs of yeses from all of us in the room as we all grab each others' hands for Paige to orb us all to my past and a source of great pain for me. My old house. The memories are definitely hitting me hard now.

We all reform inside and I look around. Everything is black and rotting. I really don't recognize anything in here anymore. It's not the home I once knew.

Piper says, "Alright, let's split up and investigate. I don't want us to be here for very long. Especially Phoebe. Who knows what's in the air here now?"

We all just sort of nod to each other as we split up. Phoebe goes towards what used to be the living room, Paige heads for the basement, Piper heads upstairs, and I head towards the kitchen. I honestly don't think I'll find much. I'm much newer to this demon hunting game and my emotions are rolling around even higher now. I haven't been here in over two decades. Coming back to finally solve my parents' murder, the reason I haven't been here in so long, is really hard to handle.

I just slowly stroll around the room. There's really nothing to look at here anymore. What furniture we used to have was long ago destroyed and removed and house is just a destroyed skeleton of what it used to be. There will be no happy memories to be found here anymore.

I finally make my way back to the front of the house where Phoebe still is. She's carefully running her hands across the wall as I walk in. I figure she's trying to summon a vision of what happened here that fateful day. I just want to forget it, but I know that if I ever want to move on to a happier existence, I don't have much of a choice.

Piper and Paige come back and I can tell by the looks on their faces that they didn't find anything that would be helpful in our search.

Phoebe pulls her hand from the wall and it's stained black from touching it. "I haven't had any hits. I think it's just been too long. The psychic residue has dispersed by now."

"Not all of it," I say.

"What do you mean?" Phoebe asks me.

"Well, I'll admit to not completely understanding how your power works, but you need something to link you in for a vision, is kind of what I get. The house is destroyed and the residue you need is gone. But I'm still here. I wasn't here when it happened, but do you think that the fact that I'm here now would help? Leo keeps saying our powers are based on our emotions and I've got those aplenty right now. Wouldn't it be possible that _I'm_ the link you need to have a vision?"

"Well, it might be a long shot, but it's worth a try if you want to."

"I'm sure the truth will hurt, but continuing to not know if they're still out there will hurt me more now, I think. I say we do it."

Phoebe nods at me as she reaches her hands out in front of her and Piper and Paige surround us to offer much needed support and to keep watch for any dangers.

I take a deep breath and reach out and grab Phoebe's hands. We clasp each other tightly and Phoebe closes her eyes and I follow suit. I allow what few memories I have of the house and of my parents flow through me. Suddenly, both Phoebe and I gasp and our hands tighten as we both go into the same vision.

_It's the morning of my sixth birthday and I see my childhood self running through the house as I run into my mom's arms and she gives me a big hug. "Happy birthday!" she says as she picks me up and swings me around. "_

_My baby girl is six already! You're making us old, baby doll!" I hear my dad say as he walks in from the kitchen._

"_No it's not! It's not my fault you're old!" I hear myself answer him and he just laughs._

_My mom finally puts me down and I go give my dad a hug, too. _

Another pain shoots through my heart as I see how happy we once were. Together. As a family. I want to see who took it all from me and make sure they can't keep hurting others like I did. I survived it, but who's to say that everyone has?

_We all walk out of the house towards the car to take me to school and the vision flashes as I see them drop me off at school and come back. _

I wasn't here for this, but I'm so glad that my idea is working. I don't know how I'm sharing Phoebe's powers or vision or whatever, but it doesn't matter right now. I know in my heart that the moment of truth is coming.

_My parents walk in the door and pull some stuff out of the closet. Party decorations and presents for me. They separate to start the putting up the decorations for my party later that afternoon and that's when I see three men show up out of nowhere with a 'popping' sound. They're holding knives._

_They surround my parents and I hear them screaming in fear and try to fight. I hear the men asking, "Where is she?!" "NO!" All the words are just mashing together in the struggle. _

I don't know exactly what it is that's going on, but I have a feeling in the pit of my stomach as the vision continues.

_I watch in horror and pain as I watch these men attack my parents. I see them be stabbed and hit as they keep asking where she is. One of them through energy balls at the walls, trying to scare the information out of them, but this just serves to start setting the house on fire. Eventually, my parents stop fighting as their bodies give out and they die. The flames are spreading in the house as they catch the drapes and the carpet and the men disappear the same way they showed up and the vision changes again._

_This time I see myself as a 10 year old and I see Jerry just as he finishes destroying what little was left of my childhood._

Pain and rage lashes through my chest again as I see his face. I'm glad that he's not around anymore to hurt me or anybody else. I wish I felt more regret at killing another human being, but for some reason, I'm just not.

_The vision flashes again and this time the vision focuses on Jerry again, only this time I'm not there. He's with another man and he's kneeling before him and I hear him say, "The process has begun, sire," and the vision suddenly cuts out there._

Phoebe and I quickly release our hold on our hands and just stare at each other for a moment.

"You saw all of that?" she asks me.

"Yeah. I don't know how. I was just trying to open myself up enough to let you see what we needed to see but I somehow ended up inside of it like you. At least that's I think that's how your visions work."

"Wait a minute," Piper demands. "You mean to tell me that you two shared a vision? How's that possible? That's not your power!"

"I don't know," I weakly respond.

"The best I can figure," Phoebe puts in, "is that she was right. She was the psychic conduit we needed to get a vision to get more to go on. I don't know how she managed to jump into my vision, but she did. And the attackers looked like warlocks. And not your average warlocks, either. There's more, but let's discuss this back at home and look in the Book to figure out our next step. And talk to Leo and everyone else about what just happened."

* * *

**Oooh. Another cliffy for you. Anybody have any ideas yet?**

**Thank you again to those who have read and reviewed and followed. You guys rock and definitely make my day. I'm considering maybe trying to go professional since this has been so well received and I have found just how much I love writing and creating characters and worlds. We'll see where this path leads! Until next time, lovelies!**


	18. Closure pt 3

We orbed back into the manor and Leo is waiting there. Along with everyone else's husbands, but I only care about Leo. Maybe he can make sense of what just happened. After all, he's the one who figured out my other powers.

"I got your call, Piper. We're all here. What's wrong? Did you find anything at her old house?" he asks us.

Piper answers, "I think so. Found more than we originally bargained for, too. You used to be an elder and since Phoebe's pregnant, I thought her husband would know if it has something to do with the baby or have some other insight, seeing as he's a Cupid. I admit to being at a loss on this one. This has never happened before. We've swapped powers, sure, but we've never shared them!"

"What? You guys shared powers?"

"No, not all of us. Just Phoebe and Pres."

Coop looks shocked beyond belief. "What?"

Phoebe says, "Alright. Let's everybody calm down for a minute. We're not going to be able to figure this out unless we can calm down and think about this. Let's go sit down. I'm tired."

We all follow Phoebe to the sun room where we all have a seat. It's late afternoon now and the kids will be getting off from school soon, so hopefully we can figure this out soon. I don't want to burden the kids or have us be distracted. I have to admit to being fully freaked out now. Visions are not my power and I'm glad they're not. I didn't like this experience at all. I had hoped Phoebe would just see what she needed to see and tell us all later like she usually does.

Phoebe begins after we're all seated. "Okay. So we got there and there wasn't enough psychic residue for me to get a vision, so Pres suggested that she would be the psychic conduit to access the memories in the house since she used to live there. We held hands and it wasn't long until I did get a vision. And I'll tell you the vision here in a minute. When the vision started, I wasn't the only one having it. Pres was having the same vision I was. It was like we were sharing powers and I know that we aren't supposed to be doing that. Do you have any ideas on what happened, guys?"

Coop and Leo look at each other for a moment before looking back at us, and you can just tell by the looks in their faces that they have no clue like the rest of us.

"I don't. Witches aren't meant to share powers like that. Pool them together, sure, but not share. I don't know why Pres shared your vision, Phoebe, but there has to be a reason why."

At that moment another voice in the room speaks and it's not one of us. "It is because it was past time she knew the truth about herself. She has a destiny to fulfill and we are running out of time."

We all turn around to the source of the voice and see a slender gentleman standing in the corner of the room, all garbed in black and green. He has a regal feel to his posture, so he must be important, but you can't see his face.

"Okay, who are you and how did you get in here?" Piper asks, hands raised and ready to blow him up.

The figure doesn't move. He simply says, "Easy. I am not your enemy. I am here for your help, but it is not the time for you to know who I am just yet."

"Yeah, we've heard that one before," Paige quips.

You can hear a small sigh before he continues, "Believe what you wish. But I do have a message for all of you. To help you all begin to decode your destinies. Hers, to be specific," he points at me.

"What do you want with me?" I ask.

"All in due time. I felt the stir in the void and in your powers and knew that you are about to begin your path and were confused and needed guidance before you could take a step. That is why I am here."

"Then why wait? Why not contact us, or me, sooner? Like when my parents died? Or how about when I learned of my powers? How about those times!?" I shout.

"Because, my dear, you weren't ready for the truth. You still aren't. But you are almost there, and that is why I am here. I'm offering you a quick guidance. As I stated before, we are beginning to run out of time and you must not deviate now. Your powers come from your emotions and you need full control now." He takes a small step forward. Enough to get closer, but not enough to see his face. "You had that vision because there is a much bigger picture going on than you realize, and it's time that you decode it. The powers that be have stepped in and showed you but a small glimpse of the truth. It is up to you to figure out the rest. But what I can tell you is that the reason you shared that vision, is because you have more powers to yourself, and to your sisterhood, than you have yet to know or share. You think you have beaten the ultimate evil by defeating your Source and the Triad. But those were just bare tastes of true power. Of true evil. It's coming. It will be up to all of you to stop it to save us all."

With that small speech, he nods at me, and disappears without a sound.

"Damn. That was just an astral projection. Couldn't have attacked him even if we tried," Piper chimes in. "And that wasn't cryptic at all! I thought we were done with the demon fighting business and with ultimate evils. I thought the angel of destiny said that we were free from all of this after we got the Triad?"

Leo nods at his wife, "She did. That's why you got me back. That was your reward for beating them. I think his message was more directed at Pres. You all have always had a shared destiny, but there's also always been your individual destinies. I think, and I admit to grasping at straws here, that Pres somehow has the ability to share your powers. I don't know how and I don't know why. But that would be my guess as to what he meant. But the best way is to start with that vision you two shared. It's the only thing we have to go on right now. So let's all just take a break to have dinner and get some sleep. We all look like we need it. We'll regroup tomorrow after the kids go back to school. I can get the other teachers to cover for me while we start to deal with this. If this mystery person is right, then we only have so much time to collect ourselves and our thoughts, so let's take what we can and just start fresh later."

With this, all my nieces and nephews start materializing in the house as they come back from school and look for their parents. Leo is right. Now is not the time and we need to stop and think for a moment. I just hope that this moment doesn't mean we'll be too late. But I have a sinking feeling that whatever I do now is too late. But I still have to catch up. Not just for me. But for everyone.

* * *

**A/N: I know. Short chapter. Sorry. I just couldn't help myself. I had to give you even more cliffy goodness. There's only one part left to this Closure part of her story, so you'll get a few more answers next chapter... Maybe... ;) Teasing. Or am I? Hmmm...**

**I just wanted to say thank you to the reviewer and to the new follows and favorites. You guys rock and totally make my day when I get the messages. So thank you from the bottom of my heart. Until next time!**


	19. Closure pt 4

We waited until all the kids went back to school the next day before meeting all up together again to discuss what had happened yesterday. I admittedly slept really poorly. There was just too much going on right now and too many emotions running through me to be able to sleep much at all.

Between me and Phoebe, we explained everything that hadn't been yesterday. Coop looked like he knew a lot of things, so Phoebe and him must've talked last night. I didn't want to talk to anybody. I know Paige was hurt by this, but she also understood that I needed a bit of space and some time to process everything.

When we finally finished discussing everything in the vision, Leo looked stumped. I could tell that Piper knew this as well and wasn't too happy about it. I know she relies on him a lot to know the things that she doesn't and that's just one of the many ways they are so perfect for each other. Seeing him at a loss upset her a bit since she didn't have a clue, either.

After a few moments, Leo looks up and it seems like he finally got an idea. "Okay. So the guy who came yesterday said that this happened for a reason and that it was all Pres' doing. We can start with that. He said there was a bigger picture, so maybe you were just simply meant to share that one vision so that you could know the truth about your past. It sounds like your parents were attacked by warlocks looking for you. Why, we still don't know, but that's another starting point. Then it sounds like this Jerry guy you knew was in league with a demon or was a demon himself. I think that it means that there is definitely a much higher level demon who orchestrated those attacks."

"Makes sense," I say after a deep sigh. "Only I know now that I've been with you guys for a while that Jerry was definitely not a demon. He didn't go 'poof' like demons do. He was human because I had to bury the body."

"Right. Okay. Well, then that leaves him being in league with one. We just have to figure out who. We really don't have a lot to go on here, do we?"

"No. This has been going on for so long that I don't know what's what anymore. But I will say that I'm more than just a little pissed that demons have seemed to have made my life a play toy or something."

"Welcome to the club," Piper says sarcastically.

I can't help but smile a little bit at this. At least she knows how I'm feeling right now. To a degree, anyway. "Okay. So he wasn't just a bad guy, he was a really bad guy in league with an even worse guy. Still technically human, though, so why would he join in with a demon?"

Piper responds, "Because they get favors out of it. Power. There have been some instances of a human turning into a demon in demon college, but we destroyed the one power base we came across several years ago. I suppose we could be stumbling into another one, though that does seem a little far-fetched for me. I get the feeling that whatever we're up against, is bigger than another demon recruiter."

"Demon college?" I ask, eyebrow raised. Paige repeats the facial gesture.

Phoebe just shakes her head and says, "Don't ask. You probably don't want to know that right now, but we can tell you later when all this is over. That was a really long time ago when Prue was still around. She wanted to save one of them and she actually managed to. But like I said, another time."

"Okay, then," I draw out. "So that still leaves us with not much to go on. We don't know who Jerry was working for. Or those warlocks, for that matter. They could just have been out to steal my powers, though I don't know why. I didn't know I had powers back then. They didn't show until I was 16, I think. So how would they know?"

Leo says, "That's why I'm leaning towards the fact that they were working for someone else. Because while warlocks do sense and steal powers frequently, they usually only go after their victims once they actually use those powers, otherwise they'd be killing every single innocent out there and not be getting much in the way of power, and that would break all their hierarchy laws."

"Right. So we're back to the beginning. Who were they working for?" Paige asks, a little impatient.

"I think this is one of those things where we just have to wait a while longer for the answer to come. That method hasn't failed you guys. I suppose we could also ask your parents, see if they know anything," Leo says, looking at me?

"Why would they know anything? They were human," I say.

"Yeah, but they were there when the attack happened. They may be able to give us some more information. Maybe they heard a name or could give us a face description. I'm sure they'd be able to give us more to go on," Phoebe says.

"Yeah, sure, that's all well and good, but need I remind you that they're dead? How the hell are dead people going to be able to talk to us and give us more info?" I ask, angrily. This whole situation is just reopening all those old wounds that I'd much rather stay closed.

Paige grabs my hands and says, "Yes. They are. Nothing will change that, unfortunately. But you're also a witch. You can do more than the average mortal. Did you forget that?"

"Of course I didn't. But do you guys actually think I want to summon the dead? It was one thing with our birth mom and Sam, seeing as he's a whitelighter. You didn't summon him like you had to mom. I think it would be too much to summon my parents. Especially after seeing how they died just yesterday!" I'm crying again at this point.

"I know, sweetie. I know. None of this is fair and you shouldn't have to be doing this right now or have lived through what you have. But there is a reason for it, and we need to find out why. You're not in this alone. I'm here, and so is everyone else. That's so much better than it has been, right?"

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I'm ready to see them. Aren't they going to come back cut up or something? I mean, I know mom came back normal, but she drowned. She wasn't cut up like they were. Plus, she's a witch. Can we even summon a regular spirit?"

"Yeah. We can. And they'll come back normal, I assure you," Phoebe says. "We've done this before. One time we called our ancestor, Melinda, back and she was flesh and bone normal with all of her powers. Another time we summoned the spirit of a murder victim to save an innocent man from being sentenced to death. It just takes the power of three to do it, is all."

"That's right. I remember that now," Piper says. "I know this sucks, but we only have so much time with the kids being gone and if the guy from yesterday wasn't pulling our legs, we just don't have a lot of time in general. You ready for this?"

"No," I answer firmly. "But I don't have a choice in the matter. Let's get this over with."

We all walk up to the attic and my sisters set up the candles in their circular formation and open up the book to the needed page. They know that I'm just simply not up for this part right now. It's going to be hard enough to just see them, let alone summon them.

"_Hear these words, __Hear my cry, Spirit from the other side, Come to me, I summon thee, Cross now the great divide," _I hear my sisters chanting in unison before I hear Paige speaking alone this time. "Beloved spirits Steven and Brenda, we seek your guidance. We ask that you commune with us and move amongst us."  
As she finishes the spell, a wind perks up out of nowhere and a light begins to form in the middle of the candle formation. The light then takes the shape of two people and take the form of my parents.

I can't help myself and begin sobbing uncontrollably. I haven't seen them in so many years, to see them again, and whole and unharmed, the emotions just overwhelm me. I don't even see my mom step out of the circle and become whole, just like my birth mother did when she greeted me a few weeks ago. She reaches her arms around me and just holds me and I hold her back. It feels so good to have her arms around me again. I know it won't last, but to at least be able to be held again, just one more time, will be enough for me. I then feel my dad bring his arms around the both of us to join the hug and we just stand there for a few moments and cry as we have basically met for the first time. I'm an adult and a much different person now.

"There, there, honey. It's going to be okay. You are strong and you are wonderful and you are gifted. We always knew that, and I know that you know that. You just have to find it again. What's happening right now, you're tearing down your old self. Your past. You're going to rebuild and you are going to be stronger than anything the world has ever known so far. I know that. I've always known that," I hear my mom saying to me as she rubs my back.

I finally compose myself enough to pull away a bit to speak and ask, "You knew? You knew about me?"

This time my dad answers, "Not exactly, no. We didn't know anything about the supernatural realm or witches or ghosts or anything of that sort until after we died. And yes, we've been watching you. We couldn't help, which believe me, just tore us apart. But we also knew you'd get through it. Even when you were a baby we could tell that there was something different about you. Just something that would set you apart from the rest. And the day we were murdered, we knew that it wasn't just some random people who broke into our house to steal stuff or to kidnap you or any of that. None of that made sense for what happened."

"Do you know what did happen?" Paige asks.

"Well. Yes and no. It all happened really fast and we didn't have much time to react while it was happening. They just kept asking where she was. I figured they were talking about my little Pres, and I knew I couldn't ever let them have her, whatever it was that they wanted. She was my daughter and I had to protect her. Keep her safe. I didn't know why they wanted her. I just knew that they wanted her," my dad responds.

"That was indeed pretty much all we knew. But we've had time to think it over after our passing and while watching our baby girl grow up. Which, by the way sweetheart, I am so proud of you for never giving up. There are plenty of people who would have a long time ago, but you didn't. That just tells me more that you are bound for great things," my mom tells me as she hugs me again.

She lets go after a moment and continues, "We admittedly don't know much about this stuff. It's your territory. But the best we could ever figure out is that they wanted to kidnap Pres. To keep her until she came into her powers and then train her to use them for evil. But they failed when we wouldn't give her up and she was put into the fostering system. But they also succeeded because that allowed that jackass Jerry to find her and abuse her for years. To tear up her soul and basically convince her to use her gifts for evil. Which, she did. Until you guys found her and guided her back onto the right path. We figured they wanted her to be like them. Or to kill her. Or maybe even both, I don't know."

"Okay. That's kind of what we figured, but we don't have much to go on right now. Do you think you guys could help us out with this after you've caught up a little bit? I think she needs you guys right now. She needs your guidance to help her get ready for whatever is coming," Paige says.  
"Of course we will," my dad answers. "Anything to keep her safe and happier the rest of her life. She's been through enough, so anything we can do to speed the process we will gladly do.

My sisters just nod at us as they and their husbands leave us in the attic to talk. To just catch up and get to know each other again. And to give me the closure I've been needing for so long.

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**A/N: Hey guys. Sorry for the forever update. Life has been really hectic and I haven't had much of a chance to work on any writing, and I've had that mean old writer's block on top of it. Really sorry. I'll try harder to do better. I did want to thank the new followers and my reviewer. I really appreciate it! You help keep me going and motivated to keep trying.**

**I know this is another short chapter and I'm sorry. The next one won't be much better in the length, but I'm trying. I just felt that she needed this emotional roller coaster and some more closure before the end. We're getting ready to start hitting the climax, but we have a couple more things to visit and who she's up against. I'll introduce the bad guy in a couple of chapters. You'll love it, I promise. Until next time!**


	20. Beginning to Heal the Past

I visited with my parents for a couple of hours. It's actually a relief to know that they've been watching me my whole life even though they've been dead for most of it. I know that I could feel resentful that they never stepped in to help me during the worst parts of it, but I'm not. I know that they wanted to but couldn't. I had to go through these things to get me ready for what's coming.

Whatever that something is.

My mom gave me some really good advice, too. She told me that I went through these things because I'm so strong. I didn't give up because I'm strong. That means I'm strong enough to face whatever this is.

After we visited and caught up, I felt so much better. All of my pain and resentments that I thought I had already let go of were still there, but I know they are gone this time. I needed this time to see my parents. I needed to see their faces and hear their voices. I needed their advice. Yes, I've finally met my birth family, but I didn't grow up with them. Granted, I didn't grow up with my parents, either, but I did spend six years of my young life with them. That counts for so much. It really does.

My parents are now back in the afterlife, watching me. Watching to see me handle whatever is coming. Lending their support. They gave the descriptions that they could to Paige and Piper and Phoebe and they are now searching the book. They know that I still need a little bit of space right now to finish processing and to clean up and get something to eat.

I'm just finishing my toast and cereal when they come back down from the attic.

"Any news?" I ask after I finish swallowing the bite I just took.

"Not much. They're your average, run of the mill warlocks," Paige answers me. "But based off of the vision you and Phoebe had, they had to have been working for an upper level demon of some kind. Same as that Jerry guy. The book doesn't have any answers on who that might be, though. Most of the time warlocks just work for themselves to gain powers. So maybe they were promised your powers if they killed you. I don't know."

"So we're back at square one, then," I say, disappointed.

"Not necessarily," Phoebe says.

"Okay. Do you have a theory, then?" I ask.

"Yeah. That guy yesterday. He said that the answers were in your past and you needed to learn the truth of your past. Maybe he didn't mean your past in this life. I'm thinking he might've meant your past life. I've had my past life bite me in the ass before. Paige, too. I'm willing to bet that your past life has the answers we need since this one is nothing but a dead end."

"That's actually a really good point, Pheebs. My past life literally came back and tried to kill us. Yours almost got you killed. Maybe this demon we're looking for you've already faced in another life. I can't believe we took this long to figure it out!" Paige says.

"Yeah. Me neither," Piper chimes in. "But there was still a reason that it took us this long. I'm thinking that guy had a lot of good advice, actually. You need to heal your past in order to protect the future. We all know that you needed to heal this one, too. To let go. I think seeing your parents again is going to help you get started on healing all of it."

"Alright. So how do we do this, then? I mean, if everything happened in a past life, I'm not so sure I want this all coming to this one to haunt us like it did you guys. Is there a way we could bring ourselves to it safely?" I ask.

"Yeah. There's a couple of ways to do it, actually. But there is one problem that we have to deal with. Since it's in the past, we won't have our active powers anymore. We know that from experience, unfortunately. We'd basically be powerless against anything we see back there. Paige had to tap into her past life's powers last time we did this. You'll probably have to do the same thing," Piper answers.

"Great. That doesn't sound overly promising, but I'm sure I could do it. I might need some guidance, though, Paige. Seeing as you've already done this before."

"You have nothing to worry about. You obviously grasped onto your powers quickly in this life. I'm sure it's the same in the past. Just take a deep breath, believe in yourself, and just connect. That's basically what I did."

"You make it sound so easy," I retort.

"That's because it pretty much is that easy. The only tricky part is actually doing it."

"Great," I say, my voice dripping in sarcasm.

"Don't worry too much. You got this. If you're done eating, let's hit the book again and find a spell to do this. The sooner we go, the sooner we can get back and come up with a plan of attack."

"Alright," I respond and take the last few bites and take my dishes to the sink and we all head back up to the attic and the book.

Phoebe pulls up the spell she used when her past life came back to haunt her and she explains, "The only problem with this is that it only lets us observe our past life as that life. We can't act in it any differently than the past has already acted out. I wrote a spell to switch places with my past life, but she was evil, so this spell might not work well. We'll have to rewrite it if you wanted to do that one. The one we used for Paige only worked because she used the Prince in that one as a tether for her powers, both past and present. Since we don't know what we're dealing with yet, I don't think that would work, even if we rewrote it."

"Good point," Paige puts in.

"So the passive spell to watch or the switching spell you wrote are our best options, then. Alright. I think I'll try the passive one. Like you said, Pheebs, we don't know what we're dealing with. I don't know if I was evil or just how powerful what we are up against, so this would probably be the safest."

"Okay, sweetie. That sounds like a plan. You'll probably be alone this one. We don't know if we had a life back then, too, or not. Think you'll be able to handle this on your own?" she asks me.

"Yeah. It hasn't been an easy day, but I think I'll be able to handle seeing my past life. Who knows? Maybe it was beautiful?"

"I love your positive and strong attitude! Alright, you might want to sit down. Your present self will fall unconscious while your spirit travels back to your past body and you'll observe everything from her point of view."

"'Kay," I say as we all head over to the couch we keep up here and I sit down with the book. I take a deep breath to calm my nerves and say the spell, _"Remove the chains of time and space, and make my spirit soar. Let these mortal arms embrace the life that haunts before." _Just as I finish the last word, I feel myself fall back and into a deep sleep.

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**A/N: Well, did anybody see that one coming? How about guesses what her past life is? Please let me know what you think.**

**And sorry again for the long update. Life has been difficult lately. I'm still trying, though. So I hope you enjoyed. And thank you again for the new followers. You guys rock. Until next time!**


	21. Past Life

**A/N: Super fast. Just a shout out to charmednar who gave me the idea for this chapter. I hope you like it!**

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She wakes at the break of dawn. She knows that today will be the day that she will die. She's prepared for this day for a long time now. To save the world. To prevent Goriath from coming to power and taking over the world and completely destroying it. The only trouble is is that Goriath knows that she is the only one who can stop him and is just as prepared as she is.

Goriath is a demon. The demon of all demons. He has every power known to the magical community and is immune to all powers that could be used against him. His only desire? To destroy the world. He doesn't want to control it like most. He wants it obliterated completely. It will take so much more than a simple spell to stop him from acting on his plans today.

She gets out of bed and makes her way to her sink to wash her face and get ready for her ultimate destiny.

_She looks in the mirror and sees the exact same face that she's seen her entire life before her very eyes. __The only difference is her hair is pure silver. __ How is this possible? She's been dead for who knows how long and she looks exactly the same as I do. We had different parents, I'm sure. _As Pres' conscious ponders why her and her past life look exactly the same, she begins to hear the person she's come to visit for answers speak.

"I know who you are. I knew that you will come for answers some day. I am Carlisse. I know that this will be the day that I die and I know that I will not succeed in my soul's destiny this day. That's one of the reasons we witches get reincarnated so easily. Sometimes quickly, and sometimes it takes centuries of rest before we can continue where we left off. But know this. Goriath is no mere demon. I would say he is death itself, if only I didn't know that angels of death are around all living beings, transporting us to the next life. I am certain I have one waiting beside me this day. Also know that I can't give you the answers you seek like this. I can't feed them all to you. You must see what I see in order to know what I know. But after that time, you will be on your own. For you can't do the sames things I have done. In order to win, you must fight differently. Unfortunately for me, I don't have that choice, but you do. I know this."

_What? How does she know that I am here to see my past life for the answers to fight a major demon threat in the future that some astrally projected being warned me and my sisters of?_

She simply smiles into the mirror. "My dear, we are cut from the same cloth, as people from your time say. We are the same soul, but at the same time different. You are simply me with a little more life experience. We are also very powerful witches with magic bursting from our beings. We both have powers that the enemy doesn't know about. And I also know that you have powers that you do not yet know about, but will when the time is right. It is with that power that you will finally be able to fulfill our soul's destiny and finally be able to find rest in the end. I know that I will fail, but you will succeed. As for the warning from the mysterious being, that was a spell that I am about to enact specifically for you. I knew that in order for you to be ready when Goriath comes back and to finally defeat him, you would need some kind of warning to be prepared. I also knew that since you were me, that you would come back to me for answers. And here we are, are we not?"

_Yeah, I guess so, _I think with a slight mental shrug.

"Very good. Now be careful while you are here. For Goriath must not know about you yet. And if you are not as silent as possible while you are with me in my mind, he will know and we will both perish. He will win and the world will follow in our steps. I know that neither of us want this."

_How will he know? If I am in your mind, that is. I technically don't exist yet. Sorta. This is really weird. I feel like I should have a headache right now since this is so confusing._

She laughs and says, "Yes. What you say is true. But he is no mere demon, as I said. He has powers beyond your reckoning and experience. We may be in Atlantis, a city of magic and more power than any other civilization, but he will still know that there is more magic here than should be."

_Woah! Wait! Atlantis!?_

"Yes. I am sorry. I thought you knew. We are in Atlantis. The city of magic."

_You mean to tell me that my past life lived in Atlantis? I thought that this city was nothing but a story._

"Yes. I do live here in Atlantis. I am truly saddened to learn that this beautiful place will grow to be naught but a myth in your time, whenever that is. And don't try to tell me when it is. The less I know about the future, the less likely it will be that Goriath will be able to sense it and plan a way to best you in that time. Now, please give me but a moment to enact the spell that I sent to you in the future to warn you if this impending doom. For if I do not cast this spell, you will not be warned and we would not be here right now discussing this impending doom."

_Um, yeah. Sure. Go ahead._ I think and wait patiently in the corner of her mind that I am inhabiting as she slowly brings herself to her knees on the floor in a pentagram that has been drawn on the floor in some chalky and ricy looking substance. I am not truly paying attention to the ritual she is performing for I do not want to interrupt her in any way or disturb the casting. I would probably be fine to just listen, but I'd rather not risk it. I am still surprised that she knew that I was here in her body to observe what we are up against. My sisters told me that this spell was a passive spell and that she wouldn't know about my observations.

Clearly all of us were wrong about that one. I get the feeling that I am dealing with so much more than anybody could clearly imagine. Even myself. Apparently my past life has surpassed all imaginations as well.

"There. The spell is completed and you will be warned in your time. Now listen carefully, child. This is a dangerous time for both of us. Goriath is a demon bent on destroying the world. He doesn't want to control it. There is also no way to stop him. Not as we are. Or at least, as I am. I see things within you as you are within me and you have something special. Something he doesn't have. But you must be very careful. For if he senses this, he will take this from you. Even though you are not of this time. I do not have the time to explain this to you fully, but know this. If he finds out you are here, not only will he kill me, he will take from you what you have, kill us both, and he will be completely unstoppable. Do not change the past. I've accepted my fate. You will accept yours in time."

_What do you mean? Why are you being so cryptic? I don't understand what you are saying to me. I came to you for help, completely expecting this to be a passive spell, and here you are talking to me as if we were old friends! I came here to find out what we are facing in the future and I am just getting more and more confused!_

"Ah. The impatience of youth. Trust me, child. You have time. For I see in you greatness. You have more powers than me and I am most certainly not without my tricks. We are different and you are better. Just trust me in this. And trust me that you will get your answers. I just wanted to make a few things clear to you before we go to meet my doom. I must make clear to you the severity of this situation. I am fighting Goriath today and I will lose. He is coming back in your time and you have to be prepared. If he wins, there will be no coming back. For anyone. Not only will he destroy the world. All living things. Everything that yet lives. He will destroy the entire balance. He will destroy existence itself. There will be absolutely nothing left. Which is why you can't fail me today. You will face terror you can't imagine today. You will try to leave this bond we are currently sharing. But you mustn't. You must stay within my mind until I die. You will feel all of my pain. Just hold fast. For if you leave before I die, he will see you and everything will be lost. Do you understand?"

_Not really. You're being so cryptic and you keep speaking in circles. But you want me to stay bonded to you until the end. Look, why can't you just not die with my help? Why can't we just destroy him now and be done with this entire thing?_

"Because today victory will not favor us. It won't favor Goriath, either, and that's all I can care about at this time. You don't understand yet. But you will. You can't change the past. No matter how much you want to. The past is there to teach us lessons and to create the foundations of our very beings. If you tried to save me today, you will destroy everything. You will unwittingly help him. I know this with every fiber of my being. But if you exercise patience, victory will favor you in the future. You do not yet know yourself. You will. Look, child. Everything you have been through has been because of him. He knows that you are the only one who will be able to challenge him, but he still believes you can't defeat him. He thinks that if he can corrupt your soul with pain, you will join him or destroy yourself. I've seen everything you have dealt with, child. The things that have happened to you. They are unforgivable. But they are also what give you your strength. He has used everything in his power to give you pain, expecting that pain to stop you in some way. But he fails to see your strength. That which I see in you. It is a light that is so bright, it surpasses death itself. You _are_ life, child. Goriath is pain and death. You are opposite to him in every way. This Jerry I've seen in your thoughts was his creation. His child, if you will. Human in every way except he had no free will. He was sent into your world to cause you untold pain and when that pain was wrought as thoroughly as he could, he was freed to cause more pain to others while Goriath gained his own strength of will. To finish what his child started. Are you beginning to understand now?"

_Not completely, no. But I do understand some of it. I won't lie and say that I know exactly what you're saying and I'm also not going to sit here and waste more time questioning how you know everything about me and about Jerry and exactly who he was and what he did to me when you died in Atlantian time, and I don't even know how long ago that was from the time that I live now. I am new to this whole witchy world. I'm not new to my powers, but I'm learning that I need to accept things and let them unfold as they will and the answers will come. I feel like that's why I met my sisters. To teach me that last part. I know my powers well, but not all of them. Leo's helped a lot with that and I'm getting a feeling that you are about to do the same. I don't know how, but I just feel it….in my soul. Not to make a pun or anything._

"You are wise beyond your physical years. That's what you get from me. That is my gift to you. I am proud. Are you ready to begin to find the answers that you have come so far to find? Are you ready to do all that I have asked of you?"

_As I'll ever be. I will be as passive as can be and I will stay with you. I will stay until the end._

"Very good. Let us begin the path of your destiny."

With that, she grabs a blue cloak that sparkles and floats in the air as if it was made completely of glitter and life itself and puts it around her shoulders and walks out the door of her small home. Never to see it or anyone else again.

Seated in the farthest reaches of her Carlisse's mind, I watched as the beautiful scene before me unfold. Buildings even higher than the skyscrapers of San Francisco seeming to touch the very base of heaven. Perhaps they were heaven's floors. They sparkled just as the cloak did and were varying colors. Some buildings were green, some red, some blue, even some yellow. An entire rainbow of colors sprayed across the entire city and sparkling just like a spring morning dew on the grass. If I had my own body, I would have stopped and stared until my eyes dried themselves up into dead husks. Alas, I was sharing my past life's body and Carlisse was on a mission to sacrifice herself to save all who lived and all who would live. She would not stop until she succeeded in her mission.

Carlisse walked quickly down the streets as the buildings passed them by one by one. Nobody was on the streets. It was almost as if everyone knew that something was going to happen and hoped that by staying out of the way, they would avoid what was coming and all would be well. If only it were to be. But not yet. Not today.

Finally after about ten minutes of walking fast, Carllisse stops in front of a small building. It looked to be a small shop of some kind. It was one of the very few buildings in the city that didn't reach well into the sky and didn't sparkle like jewels. She opens the door and walks inside. It is completely empty except for books. The walls appear to be made completely of books. Carllisse walks quickly to a large book in the middle of one of the many shelves and opens its musty pages. She opens to the page she needs and begins speaking in a language I don't understand. It must be an ancient Atlantian spell, I figure to herself.

As Carlisse finishes the spell from the book, they are surrounded by a bright yellow light and they dematerialize from the bookstore and rematerialize in a black abyss. There is nothing around them, save for a feeling of pure evil emanating from everywhere and nowhere. Pres tried to look around to see where they were, to make out what was happening when she felt a very gentle nudge in her mind; _Remember._

With that, I nestle back to the deepest corners of Carlisse's mind that I can and still be able to consciously see what is going on and dig in deep. If she was right, and I had a horrible feeling that she was, we were in for a rough ride.

"I have come for you, Goriath."

"You do not disappoint me. You didn't even make me wait for you or come after you myself. I am impressed. For someone who is about to die, you make sure to impress," a deep and echoing voice answers. If I ever believed in the devil, this guy was it. His voice chilled me to my core and I didn't even have a body of my own to chill.

"Oh, but I haven't come to impress you, Goriath," Carlisse responds. "I have come to stop you."

There is laughter that shakes the abyss that we are in. How that's possible, I have no idea because there is absolutely nothing around us, not even a floor, but it does.

"Oh you are amusing as well. You know that you cannot stop me. I see it in your mind. You have prepared for your own demise today. Not mine," he answers as he begins to materialize in front of us. He is massive. Almost as tall as the buildings we saw on our way here. He is pure black and like no demon I've ever seen. Not that I've seen a lot, but at least they looked humanoid. His eyes are giant slits of blood red and his teeth are almost as long as his claws, which I would guess to be easily at least three feet long. He has hooves for feet and his legs look like that of a goat. He is not covered in fur, however. He is covered in black scales. He almost looks like a hybrid between a dragon and a goat. I gulp internally and dig myself in even deeper and quiet my thoughts of terror and all other thoughts. I made a promise to Carllisse to not let him know that I am here and I intend to keep it. She definitely wasn't kidding when she said he was like nothing I'd ever seen or dreamed of.

"Oh, yes. Most certainly. I have prepared for my death. The question is, have you prepared yourself for yours?" Carlisse asks the beast before her.

He laughs again, and again, the abyss shakes with his laughter. "Truly, I thank you for the entertainment. I am almost sorry that I have to kill you," he says as he crouches down to look Carlisse face to face. Which just makes him look even more menacing. His face is easily as wide as a house, if not wider. Being this close to his teeth allows me to see that they are dripping with a horrible smelling saliva of some sort. Not that I even want to try to figure out what that is. I am here to quietly observe and find out what I'm dealing with.

"Well I'm not sorry that you will kill yourself," she answers with a knowing smirk on her face. With that she pulls her arms back and just as quickly pushes her hands back out in front of her and summons a strong burst of wind with one hand and lightning in the other. This surprise attack has Goriath flinging back into the black abyss that is his home and is just as quickly back on his feet and attacking back with flames hotter than anything I have conjured. Then again I'm not a freaky beast demon thing, either. But again, I can't say I wasn't warned.

Carlisse was prepared for this onslaught and used the wind she used to push Goriath back to surround us and consume the flames as giant tornadoes of flame. Now I had to admit that that was the coolest and most destructive thing I've ever witnessed. I must note that I could probably do that, but shouldn't unless I'm also in an abyss of some sort again.

These flame tornadoes whip around Goriath and catch on his skin of scales. Amazingly, it begins to blister where they make contact and this serves to enrage him further. He roars and with a whip of his claws, they are gone as if they never were and summons forth a black mist that seems to have a mind of its own. It hisses as it consumes Carlisse and myself and she begins to cough as the poison enters her lungs. Then an ocean appears out of nowhere and absorbs it completely and then is gone.

As Carlisse catches her breath, a dark gray fog surrounds us.

"Oh, do you truly think that masking your body in a fog will keep you safe from me? You seem to forget little one, that I am above you. I see all. And you will not defeat me. You can't vanquish me. Nobody can," we hear him say as the evil that I sensed when we got here thickens even more and the abyss is no longer an abyss, but a den full of snakes. Cobras and all manner of poisonous snakes surround us and begin to bite Carlisse's body, filling it with venom. We scream as we feel the fangs dig into our flesh and deliver our doom.

The rumbling begins again as Goriath materializes through the fog and faces us. Carlisse is now on her hands and knees as the poison spreads throughout and more bites and more venom come through her hands and arms. The snakes do not stop their attacks. We're both dying.

"You are pathetic. Puny. You can't even survive a couple of little snake bites. And you thought you could challenge me. I told you. I'm above you. You can't stop me. Nobody can."

Carlisse weakly responds, "That is where you are wrong, Goriath. You don't see everything. You think you do, but you don't. I may be weaker than you this time, but I'm still going to beat you." With that said, she begins saying another spell in the language I can't understand. We are so weak. I don't know how she is managing to say the spell, but she is.

I feel a power building around us. It is beautiful and light and it gains in strength as she continues to say the spell. We are surrounded by a green light that causes the snakes around us to melt like ice on a hot summer day and it is spreading and reaching out for Goriath. As it touches on of his claws, it disintegrates before our eyes and he howls in pain. He reaches his other hand back and then swings it back at as and throws us against something. I don't know what we would hit in this place of nothingness, but we land hard.

Blood fills our mouth and we can't breathe, but Carlisse somehow managed to say the last of her spell. As she uttered the last word, the green light that had surrounded us leaps forward to Goriath and encases him completely in it. He howls in rage and pain and the entire abyss shakes and splits and he is encased in stone. He almost looks like a statue in some person's nightmares. Waiting to free himself and come back to life. He is defeated for now, but he will free himself someday. The power she had summoned was not enough and I feel her body giving up as she reaches for death.

I feel everything she feels and it is the most excruciating thing ever. Most of her bones are broken and her lungs have already filled with blood and she is suffocating. The last of her breath the she did have was used to finish the spell. The venom from the snake bites is almost inconsequential at this point, but I can still feel the burn of it spreading through what hadn't already been destroyed by the landing.

I am dying with her. I do not know how, but I know that if I don't let go now, we will both die. I feel Carlisse beside me in her mind. She's urging me to leave now before it's too late, but before I do she says, "_I hope you have at least some of the answers you needed now. He was unstoppable for me. He is not unstoppable for you. He is death and you are life. And with your sisters beside you, it is you who is the one who is unstoppable and should be feared __by him_." With this she uses the last of her strength to push me out of our shared body and she dies. As she dies, I feel my spirit being sucked back to my own time, but something is horribly wrong. I still feel all the pain that Carlisse felt as she died.

I feel my soul place itself back into its rightful body, and I wake up. I look down, but I am completely covered in blood and bites everywhere. I see the horror on my sisters' faces as I fall from the couch onto the floor and black out to my own abyss.

* * *

**A/N: Well, what do you guys think? Good bad guy? I just wanted to stray away from the typical demons for Charmed and just do something a little different and a little more scary. Please let me know what you thought!**

**Also, I have officially finished writing this story. I know, sad day. But it's been a real ride, let me tell you. So that being said, there are three chapters after this one and a short epilogue. I'll probably just post the last chapter and the epilogue at the same time since the epilogue is so short. I'll be posting a new chapter weekly until the end. I REALLY hope you guys like where this is going to go. I know my beta and myself loved it! :) Anyway, until next week!**


	22. Awakening

I'm floating in my mind. No thoughts. No feelings. Just pain. The exact same pain that Carlisse felt when she died. I feel a warmth filling my body and I am floating back towards the surface of my mind and back towards consciousness. The pain is leaving my body as the warmth spreads and I feel immense relief.

As I come to, I open my eyes and gasp and sit up quickly. I look at my body and all the blood and puncture wounds are gone. I then turn and look at my sisters and the look of fear and concern on their faces is completely overwhelming.

"Are you alright?" Paige asks me.

"Yeah. I think so. What happened?" I answer.

"We were kind of hoping you would tell us. What the hell was that?" Piper asks.

"I'm not sure. I thought you guys said that the spell would be passive and I would just observe what she felt and what she did. But she knew I was there. She actually talked to me. She said that I was more powerful than her and this Goriath demon guy," I say as I try to stand up. Paige and Piper help me up with murmurings of 'take it easy now'.

"What? How is that possible?" Phoebe asks. "When I used that spell it truly was passive. I had to write another spell and that only worked in that it switched hers and my souls and it almost killed me!"

"I don't know Phoebe. I really don't. But she knew I was there and she said if I wasn't careful, Goriath would know as well and he would kill me. She said that I couldn't leave her mind until it was over or he would figure it out and kill both of us and he would win," I continue and recap my sisters on what transpired in my past life. It still boggles my mind that my soul used to exist in Atlantis.

"Well," Phoebe says as she sits down on the couch. "I don't know why this surprises me. Excalibur, Pandora's Box, all those things that are believed to be mythology are real, so why not Atlantis?"

"Yeah. I think it's probably safe to say that most magical objects in mythology actually exist and are being hid now to avoid the wrong people and from demons using them," I say. "But this Goriath guy. You can't even begin to imagine. The things that I saw. He is massive. And so powerful. Carlisse was extremely powerful, too. She actually sent that astral warning guy to us so that we would be prepared when he finally woke up. She knew she wouldn't be able to destroy him and that she was going to die. And he managed to kill her fairly quickly. He took everything she could throw at him and almost acted like they were nothing but annoying flies even though she did manage to get some damage on him before he killed her. But she was actually able to trap him before she did die. It took everything she had to just do that. And she said that he was death and I was life and I was going to be the only one able to stop him. I just don't quite understand what she meant by that. And I have no idea how I'm going to stop something that huge and something that exists in some type of black abyss of nowhere. I wouldn't even know where to find him. And she must've used ancient Atlatis spells because I couldn't understand a word she was saying when she said some of her spells and I seriously doubt I'm going to be able to learn ancient Atlantan in time to trap him again. Not to mention the fact that staying with her until the end almost did kill me and I don't think she saw that one coming, either."

I just barely finish my ranting and expressing my fears from what I saw when an earthquake begins to shake the house and everything else around us. "Oh no! Everyone, get in the door frames!" I yell as we all hurry to brace ourselves as the earthquake runs its course and it's the strongest earthquake I've ever felt. I hear car alarms blaring and buildings shuddering and breaking.

Finally, after several minutes, it finally stops.

"Everybody alright?" Piper asks all of us.

There are answers all around that we're all fine, somehow the house is only barely damaged and some furniture is moved, but looking out the attic window shows that not everywhere else was so lucky.

"Okay, I hate to ask this, but did you do that, Pres?" Paige asks. "You know just as well as the rest of us that our powers are tied to our emotions and you're pumping off some strong emotions there."

"No," I shake my head as a cold fear and dread fills my stomach. "It wasn't me. It was Goriath. He's awake. I felt him. Carlisse was too late in warning me. I think we're all going to die." I collapse on the couch and cover my face with my hands as the reality sinks in. Goriath is going to kill me, too. I'll be lucky to get anywhere near as close as Carlisse did. She had experience and guts, and I have nothing but stubbornness.

Phoebe grabs my hands and holds them into hers. "Try to relax, honey. We've been through worse."

"Have we?" Piper asks. "I mean sure, things have been pretty hopeless before, but never quite like this. At least all the other demons we've faced were findable and only wanted to control the world. The only ones who wanted to destroy it were those apocalypse guys, but they always fail and they rely on humans to do most of the work. This guy sounds like he's ready to do it all on his own!"

"He is. But I won't let him. I still don't understand what Carlisse meant when she said I could destroy him. She did things that I couldn't imagine doing and so did Goriath. I think what she wanted to tell me was what my fate is and to accept that I'm not going to make it out of this."

"Don't say that!" Paige says as she sits next to me. "You have something that she didn't. You have us and we are going to help you in every way that we can. You said that she knew about us, too. I'm thinking that she told you a lot, but she knew even more than she let on and wants you to figure the rest out on your own because while your paths are shared, they are still different. That's why we live many lives. To learn many lessons along the way. And it sounds like she gave the ultimate sacrifice so that you could live to fight and win another day."

"Thanks, Paige. You're always so reassuring, but I honestly don't think there's a way to beat him. You didn't see him. You didn't see what he could do!"

"No. I didn't. But I also know you and that you don't give yourself anywhere near enough credit. You do amazing things, too. Things that I can't imagine doing."

"Yeah, but you can heal people. You guide them. You get to move things with your mind. What do I do? I start fires and rain showers and mini tornadoes and make rocks out of thin air. Sure, it's impressive and all, but that won't stop Goriath," I say as I sink further into the couch and my own fear and despair. I don't know why I keep switching between accepting my upcoming death and being more terrified than I've ever been. Sure I've dealt with some pretty unthinkable things and survived all of it, but I've also done some unthinkable things that I don't know I'll be able to forgive myself for. Jerry may not have been an innocent human and he may have been a construct of Goriath, but I have killed other people with my powers. In my mind, I'm just as bad as he is. Then again, maybe these are just the thoughts of a dead woman walking.

"Stop that thought train right there, missy," Paige says.

I just look at her and go, "What?"

"Don't think I don't know what you're thinking right now. You're not going to die. I'm not going to let you. And stop thinking about your past. You made mistakes and that's all they were. You didn't know. You do now and you know that you won't do it again. That's all that matters. You are not a demon and he is not as unstoppable as he wants you to think. We are all in this together and we have your back!"

I can't help but smile at my twin. She seems to know exactly what to say and when to say it. I don't know if it's just because she's my twin or because she's a whitelighter and that's what she does or if it's a mixture of both, but she does it every time. I lean forward and give her a heartfelt hug and no words are spoken. None are needed. We all know that we just need each other and nothing else in this moment.

While we hug, a memory strikes my thoughts like a piano falling from a 10 story building. "Wait a second!" I exclaim as I break the hug and stand back up.

My sisters all just look at me like I've lost my mind. I might have with all this waffling around of all my thoughts and feelings, but I know that what I just remembered is very important.

"Sorry about that. No, I just remembered something. Something that Carlisse said to me. She said that I have more powers that I don't know about yet. Maybe once I discover them I can face Goriath and actually win like she said!"

"Okay. Wait," Piper says. "You have even more powers? You have control over the elements, we all know that. What would be missing?"

"I don't know," I reply. "But I have to find out. I know it's not going to be today, but it also needs to be soon. Because if I don't discover it before he finds me, we're all dead."

"Okay. Well, maybe you should spend more time with Leo and train some more. He did help you figure out that you can turn yourself into the elements that you can create and control. Maybe he can help you find that missing power of yours that will save the day," Phoebe says.

"Yeah," I say. "I guess so." I feel myself steel my resolve in my heart and mind. I don't know that I'll make it through this, but I'll be damn well sure I at least take Goriath down with me.

* * *

**A/N: I know. Short. But two more chapters and the short epilogue to go! Until next time!**


	23. Answers and Loss

It's been about three months since I felt Goriath awaken and escape the prison that Carlisse put in him for who-knows-how-many-centuries. There haven't been any more earthquakes like the one that signaled him escaping and that's a great thing. The city was pretty badly damaged. It wasn't destroyed, but there was quite a few deaths and not a lot of buildings survived it, either. Our house surprisingly stayed standing and Phoebe thought that I had something to do with it. I may be able to control the earth, but I don't do earthquakes and I most certainly can't control Goriath. From what I could tell, nothing could. I just had to make sure I could at least take him down with me when I went like Carlisse before me. Only this time I hoped he'd be vanquished and not just imprisoned.

True to my word, I have upped how much training I've been doing with Leo. All my time that I don't spend teaching my students or eat or sleep, I spend training. I'm hoping that I'll find that power that Carlisse said that I had, but we have been unsuccessful. The bright side is that I've honed all of my other abilities even more, but I know that that won't truly help me stop Goriath. I mean, he doesn't care that I can control spots of a flame to be hotter or colder than the rest. He's entirely too strong for that.

I'm training on my own today because Leo does have his own responsibilities with his children and his own students and Piper has been really sick with the flu lately, so she hasn't been able to do much in general. Paige has been helping out a bunch in between her own family and her charges with researching in the library here in magic school. I think she's trying to find some answers so that I don't share Carlisse's fate, but I know in time that she'll accept that they are the only ones getting out of this one. Phoebe's pregnancy has progressed and she definitely has a baby bump going on, so I've been careful to make sure to not include her unless absolutely necessary, which thankfully hasn't been an issue.

We need to keep her and her baby safe, which is why I'm pushing myself even harder still than I already have been. I'm really starting to feel the fatigue setting in as I push my powers further still and I try to find the one that I need to stop him. I have to protect my family. It's my destiny. My calling. The entire world is counting on me whether or not it knows it and I'm really feeling the pressure.

As I'm working on controlling a mini tidal wave with one hand and a mini tornado in the other, trying to mix the two somehow to just find what I'm missing, Billie walks in and kills my concentration.

"Hey. Not to be rude or anything, but I need to train. I can't have you distracting me. Can we talk later?" I ask.

"Actually, no. This really can't wait," she responds to me.

I push down a wave of frustration and irritation at my only real friend and stop what I'm doing. "Alright. Fine. What's up?"

"Not in here. Let's go somewhere else. I'm sick of this room and you should be, too," she says.

"Fine," I say breathily and not quite without a touch of the irritation I'm trying to push aside right now at being interrupted. I have to find what's missing before I'm too late and I know that I'm rapidly running out of time. Goriath will leave his abyss sooner or later and come after me and then the world will be gone. I try to shove those thoughts away and follow Billie to the library and there awaits Paige and Phoebe.

I smile at my sisters, but it wasn't as heartfelt as it should have been and I say hi to them and we all sit around a book-covered table.

"Okay. What's up? Let's do this quick so I can get back to training," I say.

"Don't get so antsy, Pres. This is huge and I don't even know what to think about all of this anymore," Paige says with pain in her voice.

"Sorry. You just know as well as I do that I have to find that missing power that Carlisse told me about and that's why you've been doing the book work," I retort.

"Yeah. Well, I finally found something on our demon and it's not good," she says back.

My heart sinks deep into my stomach and I just know that we are completely screwed because she never sounds like this. She's got too much whitelighter in her. "What is it?" I ask.

Phoebe pushes one of the books on the table over to me and I see a passage with one word that calls my attention to it like nothing else. Goriath. He's actually documented. I didn't think it was possible. I read on and the page says:

_Goriath is the most powerful demon known to all living beings. No known description is known to exist of this demon as all who have seen him have perished, but his very name is struck fear in all magical beings who have heard his name._

_ His only desire in his mass arsenal of powers is to destroy all life within our universe, both magical and non-magical alike. Should he be allowed to succeed, the universe will not be able to rebirth itself as it has for millenia, as is the cycle of all life to die and to be reborn._

_ In all known history, there was only ever one witch powerful enough to challenge Goriath, but she ultimately perished in her battle with him as well. It is believed that in the course of her battle with him, the magical city of Atlantis was destroyed in their wake and lost to the tales and myths of history, never to be heard from or found again._

"Wait, they're blaming the whole Atlantis being destroyed thing on them?!" I ask incredulously. Granted, it's perfectly credible as I felt everything crack and break as Carlisse died, but they were in an abyss. How could they destroy that city if they weren't even near it?

"Keep reading," Phoebe says, eyes down and staring at the table sadly.

I sigh deeply and lower my eyes to the page again and continue as I was bid:

_It is uncertain as to what exactly transpired as all has been lost to the rivers of time, but it is believed that the witch who faced this demon managed to either destroy or imprison him indefinitely, but if the latter is true, he will most certainly escape at some point._

_ Should Goriath escape, all we know and cherish will be destroyed in his wake as he continues his quest to kill everything and none will be able to stop him._

"He's unstoppable except for Carlisse, I knew that. I was there when he killed her," I say as my heart somehow manages to sink further into my body.

"There's a little more to go. Keep going," Paige says as she leans into the table.

I again turn to the book and continue:

_The only being strong enough to challenge Goriath has since perished at his hands and at the hands of time. When Goriath killed this most powerful witch, he proved that while she was strong enough to challenge him, she was not powerful enough to stop him completely._

_ There is a prophecy that it is not certain if it was ever real pertaining to Goriath, but it was said that the only ones powerful enough to stop him completely are five sisters who will be born to the most powerful line of witches known to all magic kind. Only will those five sisters be able to combine their powers and finally bring an end to this being._

"Well, that's wonderful news! He's not as unstoppable as we thought he was!" I exclaim.

Phoebe says sadly, "Read it again, Pres. It says the power of five. Yes, there was five of us born, but only four of us are still alive. Prue died several years ago and we can't bring back the dead! No amount of healing can bring back the dead."

Shit. As this reality finally sinks in, I fall back into my chair completely dumbfounded. This just made everything much worse, that's for sure. He really is unstoppable. Even if I did find this missing power, the best I could hope for is to trap him again and basically delay the inevitable each time I'm reincarnated. Well, fuck. Doesn't that just suck?

As I feel myself fall into a pit of despair, I get angry. Angrier than I have ever been since I lost Paine and I pull myself away from it. I stand up and say, "So that's it for you guys? You giving up? Fine. That's fine. Go ahead and give up! But that's not what I'm about and it never will be. I may not be able to stop him, but I can at least I can put his plans on pause for a few more centuries. You may not like it, but I'm going to make damn sure that I can bring him down with me at the very least so that you guys can enjoy the rest of your lives and raise your babies. Maybe that passage isn't even about us! Did you think of that!? There's four of us, yes. But you all have kids and I don't. I'm ready to make sure you can keep yours and maybe it's your kids that will have the five sisters that will finally stop this douchebag. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going back to training."

With that, I angrily leave the room and go back to training and to get ready to meet my own doom. Just like Carlisse did.

It's been about a week and I haven't talked to my sisters. I haven't even gone home. I barely sleep and I haven't even really eaten since I found out that I will definitely not be making it out of this fight with Goriath. I've done pretty much nothing but train. I've canceled all of my classes and I've pretty much stopped talking to anybody who comes near me. I figure if I'm going to die, I might as well make it like I never was.

I am sitting in the corner of the training room, trying to rest a moment. I am completely exhausted and just spent in every way that a person can be. I've pushed my magic to its limits and it's all but stopped now. I can't control anything at all anymore. I'm trying so hard to not let myself slip into the despair pit rapidly growing inside of me, but I know I'll fall into it sooner or later. Not only have I not found this missing power of mine that I'm really starting to question if it exists and Carlisse told me I had it so that I'd be willing to die a hero like she did, but I've just about lost all of my other ones.

I'm fighting off sleep from taking hold of me when Billie walks into the room again. "Alright. Enough of this. If you can't put a stop to your nonsense, I will. Just because your demon is unstoppable doesn't mean you can do this to yourself or to your family!"

"Just leave me alone," I whisper.

"No. Not happening. Just look at yourself! You have trained yourself to the point of breaking yourself apart. You don't eat or sleep anymore. You've lost all control! In all honesty, all you are doing at this point is feeling sorry for yourself!"

I stand up, pissed off now. "Why don't you shut up!? You have absolutely _NO _idea of what I'm going through! I have to die to save the whole world and I'll probably just get added on as another page in a book and forgotten in time yet again. The only people strong enough to stop him are either dead or haven't been born yet. And if it's the latter, I have to make sure that they are so that they can. Don't you get it? I am going to die by this creature that nobody but me knows what he looks like and he's already tried to kill me and to destroy who I am. I'm not going to let that happen!"

"But you are!"

"NO I AM NOT!"

"Oh really? Then explain this to me. You were already a powerful witch before you met your sisters and you did have some control. But you were a ticking time bomb. You met your sisters and you learned even more control and you learned that you had more powers than you knew about or realized. Now that you're on this whole, 'I'm going to die and you don't get it' kick, you've lost your powers and you've lost yourself. You distance yourself from your sisters and by extension, you've distanced yourself from yourself. You are playing into his hands by distancing yourself from your family because your family is what finally brought you back to life. Or are you really that blind and stupid?"

That being said, I realize what a bitch I really have been. And maybe pretty damn stupid. I forgot that our powers are tied to our emotions and I've been self destructing by letting my fear of this demon and of death that I didn't realize was there since it was so masked by self righteousness that Billie is right. I was warned about this. Goriath is pain and death and by distancing myself from my family, I've just stopped the only thing strong enough to challenge him again.

Yeah. I'm really a dumbass. I finally speak up, "You're right. I'm sorry. I guess I've just been afraid without quite realizing how afraid I really am. I'm not going to make it out of this and it scares me. I just found my family and now I have to die to protect them and it's just so unfair."

"Dude. I know how you feel. I had to kill my own sister mere months after I found her after she had been kidnapped by demons and was missing for years because they brainwashed her into becoming one of them. Or did you forget about that, too?"

"Actually, yeah. I kind of did. I'm sorry. I've been so self involved and obsessed with saving my family, that Goriath has been all that's been in my thoughts for quite a while now. And now I'm useless."

"You're not useless. You're just exhausted. You need to stop trying so hard. Sometimes the answers you need are right in front of you and that's why you can't see it. You may or may not die fighting this guy. Actually, you probably will, and I'm going to lose a good friend. But you can't destroy your family while you sacrifice yourself. You have to be with them. Love them. Help them say understand and say goodbye. Don't just push them away and self destruct yourself like you have been. You are stronger with them than you are alone, anyway. And I'm sure your dumbass forgot that little fact, too. Your sisters are your strength. Without them, you kinda are useless," she says with a tiny laugh as she pulls me into a hug.

"You're right. As usual. I'm so sorry. I should really go home and say I'm sorry. Especially to Paige. She's been so wonderful and I've been a terrible sister. And Piper let me into her home since her house is the only place big enough to house all of us and she's been sick. And, oh my god. Phoebe. I wanted to be with her throughout her pregnancy and all I've done is ignore her."

"Then do what you gotta do. Paige!" she yells into the air.

In a flash of orbs, Paige materializes into the room. "You called, Billie?" she says and then she spots me. "You look like crap."

"Hello to you, too. Look, Paige. I am so sorry. For everything. I've been afraid and I know that I'm going to die in this fight with this demon. I guess I figured you were giving up and that it'd be easier for you guys to forget me when I died than if I stayed around, but it was actually reversed. I was giving up and I'm just plain stupid. I'm sorry."

With that, Billie smiles and says, "I'll leave you two alone to catch back up. You guys need each other. See you later." With that, she walks out of the room to do whatever it is that Billie does when she's not with us.

"I know, Pres. And it's okay. Well, it's really not okay, but I do understand. It's part of my job as a whitelighter and as your twin. And you need to wake up and realize that I'm not letting you die. I'll just keep healing you!" she says.

I just give a breathy chuckle as a wave of dizziness rolls over my body. I am so tired and so hungry and I'm only just now realizing how bad I let myself get.

"Okay. We can talk later. Let's get you back to the manor and get you something to eat and get you into a bed. You are almost a walking corpse at this point. And no more training for you. Not for quite a while. You're not anywhere near healthy enough for it."

"Aye aye, captain," I joke as she grabs onto my shoulders and orbs us back to the manor and in the kitchen. Piper is there, making dinner for Leo and the boys. She takes one look at me and I can tell she's not feeling much better and we probably look about the same, which is pretty miserable and sickly.

"Welcome back, Pres. Hungry?" she asks.

"Starving," I just reply.

"Good. Dinner's ready. Eat up," she says.

I sit down and say, "Look, Piper. I am so sorry. I've been a complete and total -"

"Save it," she says, interrupting me. "I know you're sorry and I know why you did it. Just don't do it again. I still don't feel that great and I don't want to get into any long apologies tonight. Just eat your dinner and get some sleep and we can talk later when we're both feeling better, alright?"

"Thank you, Piper," I say with a small smile and I dig into my meal. I don't even pay attention to what I'm eating or how good it tastes. I'm too hungry to care and just need to eat. Once I am done, I head upstairs and take a hot shower and crawl into bed and fall into a deep sleep and stay that way for several hours.

I wake up the next day and look at the clock. It's already 12:30 in the afternoon. Crap, I think to myself as I sit up in bed. But I don't know what I'm worried about. I canceled all my classes and I've been banned from training until my health is back up by my sisters.

I get up and get dressed and go downstairs. The house is empty, so all the kids must be in school and everybody else at work, I figure. I grab myself some toast and cereal in the kitchen and just start digging into the food. I'm actually glad Paige has grounded me from training. Billie is right. I'm really starting to hate that room right now, too. I need a break and I want to spend some time with my family before it's time for me to save them from a very certain doom.

As I finish eating and take my dishes to the kitchen to wash, I think that I should go see Phoebe and apologize to her as well and see how the babies are doing when a feeling of pain and dread fills my entire being and I drop the dishes I was carrying, smashing them all over the floor.

I crouch to the floor and hold myself, willing the pain to leave me when a sudden realization hits me like a ton of bricks. Paige is in trouble and I have to help her.

With that I dig deep and I feel myself disappearing into the air and my body recorporealizes in a dark alley where demons are attacking a witch and Paige. I don't even have time to realize that I just managed to teleport myself, something I've never done before when I realize just how bad the situation is where I've landed. A demon throws a fireball at my sister and she calls for it and redirects it at the demon, but this just throws him backwards and before we all know it, he's hurling two fireballs, one at both Paige and her charge, and Paige calls for the one aimed for her charge and redirects it as the other hits her square in the chest.

Everything looks like it's in slow motion to me at this point as Paige is falling to the ground and I scream with pain and rage and call forth my most powerful wall of fire that I've ever conjured and surround the three of us with it and push it out, destroying the demons who were attacking.

I release the flames and run to my sister, fear filling my entire being. I reach her and I fall to my knees as I look at her. Her eyes are just staring up into the sky, not seeing anything anymore. I was too late. Paige is dead, I realize, and despair takes over as I collapse onto her and cry.

* * *

**A/N: Okay, okay. I know. You absolutely despise me now and you are now getting price quotes from hit men. It was a huge risk and I took it. I actually planned this part since the beginning. But stick with me. You are NOT going to want to miss this one. I promise. Next chapter's gonna be epic :D. Plus it's the grand finale. Who would want to miss that? See you next week!**


	24. Destiny Fulfilled

**A/N: I decided to go ahead and just post the finale and be done with the publishing. Here's the grand finale.**

**For the guest reviewer who said you weren't gonna read anymore and it should have been Phoebe, let me remind you that Phoebe is in her third trimester at this point. You seriously think I would do that? Also, you should know by now that there is always ways around these things in the Charmed universe. So, your loss. For everyone else, enjoy.**

* * *

I can't believe it. Paige is dead. My closest sister. My one full blood tie. I sob on her lifeless body as her charge comes to close her eyes so that they will stop staring up into the sky and seeing nothing. "I'm so sorry," I barely hear her say as she stays nearby to offer comfort, but none will be found now. She's gone and she's not coming back.

As I continue to sob over my dead sister, a flash of white orbs appear and Sam materializes in the alley with us. He looks over to us, but I'm not paying attention to him. I can't focus on anything but the fact that Paige is dead and this hurts even more than when I lost Paine all those years ago, so I don't see the sorrow line his face or when he takes Paige's charge to safety and comes back. I still don't notice when he puts his hands on my shoulders and orbs us back to the manor where the family is waiting.

Henry isn't here yet because he can't materialize like everyone else, but he's probably on his way or he doesn't yet know his wife is dead. Either way, I don't care. I just hold onto Paige even tighter still as everyone crowds us and begins crying and questions about what are we going to do runs around the room. I'm guessing two sisters in the same family violently murdered by demons probably doesn't look good to law enforcement, but again, who cares? I don't. I just want my sister back!

I cry even harder and finally words finally make their way out of me, "No, Paige! You can't leave me like this! It's not fair! I just finally get you back and you leave me! You can't do this! You just can't!" I scream at her.

Phoebe tries to comfort me and I just yell at her again, "No! Just leave me alone! Don't touch me!" She quickly retreated. She should know as well as anybody else that there's just no comfort to be had right now and any attempt to do so will just make me worse.

I'm sobbing and begging Paige to not leave me. "Please, just come back," I keep saying over and over to her body. "I need you. Please."

Of course she doesn't respond, but I keep begging and pleading for her to come back to me. I finally give up and just lay on top of her and sob until there are no more tears for me to cry. I barely hear the door open and Henry comes inside. He sees me and he sees Paige and that's all he really needs to see to know that it's true. His beloved wife is dead.

Immediately, he begins to cry as well as the fact that he is now a widower sets in and he has three kids to raise on his own. He comes over to us, but I don't move. I refuse to move and he just joins me in my grieving. Our grieving. The loss is so thick in the house, it's suffocating.

I move a little bit to let him in. She was his wife and he deserves this as much as I do. I finally give up a little bit and sit up and I just look at my sister's face. So like mine, and yet so different. Her face is whiter. More angelic than mine. Peaceful, too. My face has been etched in pain and sorrow and I'm sure it'll just deepen after this. Not that it should matter much. I'm sure I won't be far behind her.

As I sit and look at my sister and Henry grieve over his wife, a deep feeling of love fills me. It's so full and so deep, it almost takes my pain away. Almost. I love my sister. And we'll always be together. We are twins after all. And I know she'll never be far. I actually almost feel her hugging me as I sit there over her.

As these feelings fill me further, which I didn't realize was even possible, my hands that are resting on top of her stomach begin to glow purple.

Wait. What!? The glowing purple pulls my attention away from her face as it glows ever brighter and begins to surround the two of us. I can't even begin to understand what's happening, but just as the purple light begins to die down, Paige takes a deep inhale of air and gasps in pain.

"What is going on? Why do I hurt so much? Henry, how did you get here?" she asks one after the other. The burn on her chest is still there and is actually bleeding again. Sam rushes over and puts his hands over her chest and a yellow light comes from them and her wound vanishes after a moment, as if it never was and as if she was never dead.

Everyone but Phoebe whose stomach is really showing these days helps Paige slowly get up and move to the couch. Where the sorrow and loss was so thick in the room, there is now confusion and happiness at the return of Paige.

I can't really make out what everyone else is saying. I'm just staring at my sister. She was dead. We all saw it. She was definitely gone. But now she's alive again. She needed to be healed, but she's alive. Nobody can bring back the dead. It messes with the natural order. So how in the hell did she come back? I'm sure the murmurings around the room are matching my chaotic thoughts.

Finally the voices quiet down enough for us all to hear Phoebe when she says, "Okay. So everyone saw what just happened, right? She was dead and now she's not. Does anybody have any answers?"

Her questions are just met with silence for a few moments when Leo and Coop share a look and Leo finally says, "I might have a theory. And if it's correct, it would explain a lot of things. And at the same time I wonder why none of us never saw it before. And again, it really should not be possible."

Piper snaps at her husband but not in a mean or hateful way, "Leo, can you please stop talking in circles and tell us what you know about what just happened?"

"Right. Well, we all know that Pres is an elementalist. That's her power. To create and control all the elements; earth, air, fire, and water. But there's a fifth element that holds the other four together and creates the balance between them all. The aether, or spirit, element. If what I'm thinking is correct, Pres can control all five of them. Which means that she can bring the dead back to life. She can't heal them, but she can bring their spirits back to their bodies, like we just witnessed. I think we just found her missing power. They're both half whitelighter, but they're still different. Paige has whitelighter powers in that she can heal the living. And Pres can heal the dead, or rather, bring it back to life."

"Which means the power of five is actually possible," Phoebe says as she sinks onto the couch in shock as the truth of what just happened and what needs to happen next sinks in.

"I was really dead?" Paige asks, but nobody wants to answer that question, so it just hangs in the air.

Coop finally pipes in and says, "From what I understand, here, all of this makes sense now. Phoebe told me about that prophecy they found about this demon guy you're supposed to face. Pres can make the power of five happen. And all of you are basically like a pentacle of power between all of you. Phoebe has premonitions, the wisdom of both past and future, so she's air. Paige has the power to heal the living and water seen as the healing element, so she's water. Piper has always been the most grounded of the three of you thus far, so I honestly see her as the earth element. I never met Prue, but she was the most determined demon fighter out of all of you from what I do know of her, so I'd place her as fire. And now, you, Pres. You are the spirit. You are life itself. The heart. You control the four other elements and hold it all together and can bring the dead to life. Which means fire can exist again. And the since a pentacle is a symbol of protection, the five of you together are meant to protect all life. Because of you. And that would explain why you and Phoebe shared powers that one time, too."

We all just stand around in stunned silence. The events of the last few days are entirely overwhelming and our emotions are completely exhausted after the loss and regaining of our sister today.

Piper says, "Well. I guess you guys are right. We are the power of five. We have to work together to beat this demon, but it will ultimately be life that defeats death. Pres' destiny. We have to bring Prue back." She looks at me. "Well, you have to bring Prue back. And we have to defeat Goriath together with you at the center. With the power of four, our powers will soar. With the power of five, life will thrive."

"Right," I dumbly respond. I just can't believe everything that's gone on. And it doesn't help that I still feel so weak after my throwing that fear fit of mine for the last week. I don't know that I'll even be able to bring Prue back. Paige was only gone for maybe an hour. Prue has been gone for at least five years. I never did ask when exactly she died. Would I be able to bring her back in my present condition?

Leo echoes my unspoken question by saying aloud, "We've stumbled on your answers, I think, but I don't think she's going to be able to bring Prue back today. She brought Paige back my mostly accident and it took a lot out of her. Look at her, she's exhausted. And look at you, Piper. You're still so sick with bout of flu and can barely keep anything down. This fight will have to wait for a few more days while you fight your bug and while she recovers from what's she's been through the last few months."

"He's right," I say. Goriath isn't going anywhere yet. He's awake, but he's still planning his moves. Kind of like we are. Only I feel in my gut that he stills sees himself as invincible since the power of five is still technically dead. And he doesn't know that I just figured out everything that Carlisse told me. She spoke in circles because she knew I'd have to figure it all out myself or I'd never be prepared. I'm still prepared to die, but I'll be sure that my sisters won't share my fate as I feel a slight mental tug in Piper's direction and I smile to myself with inner knowledge of what will come. She was right. I do have another power and I'll master it just as quickly as I did the others. I just have to make sure to not mess with the natural order of things like Goriath has.

I'm ready for this fight.

It's been a couple of weeks since Paige died and I brought her back to life. I've been taking everyone's advice by not using my powers and getting plenty of rest and eating like I should be. Paige had to take her own advice. I guess realizing that she died really hit her and made her realize that she needs to be more careful. Just because I can bring her back to life doesn't mean I should be doing it all the time. After all, we all must die at some point. It's a harsh reality, but it's the truth. She's been taking it easy, too. We're both feeling a lot better now, though. I feel like if there was a storage box in my body that held my powers, it'd be refilled and ready to use right now.

Phoebe's belly is just growing bigger. She'll probably have her newest daughter in about a month or so, I figure.

Piper's flu hasn't eased off much, but she's able to keep down fluids at the very least. She's gearing up for this fight as well. We all know Goriath won't stay wherever he is forever and he's definitely not going to wait for her to keep her foods down. And that's going to take quite a while, I'm thinking.

We all meet together in the sun room of the manor as my sisters hug their husbands and children as they are all heading for magic school for their own safety. I know Phoebe and Coop are not happy about her having to do this while so heavily pregnant, but again, Goriath is not going to wait for her to give birth and recover from that. We have to do this now while he's not completely expecting us. I feel him inside my head, somewhat, though. It's almost like we're linked. He knows something is up, but he doesn't know what just yet.

After all the goodbyes and well wishes are said, the kids and husbands all dematerialize out of the house and head off to magic school to wait for us to come back. Billie is here at my request. I'm going to need her help to get Prue's remains. Paige could probably help, but I'd rather not have her using her powers just yet. She'll probably need to heal the body once I recorporealize it, and we'll need all of our powers at max before we face him. By the time we reconstitute the power of five, he'll know what's up and he'll be even more dangerous.

"You guys ready?" I ask.

Murmurs of as they'll ever be is run across the room and we all grab each other's hands. I ran over the events of what happened the day Paige died and I realized that I managed to teleport to her. I talked it over with Leo and he was again not surprised by my newfound abilities. He reminded me that our powers are linked to our emotions and when my twin sense kicked in to alert me to the fact that Paige was in trouble, I answered that call and my powers took over and took me to her. I'm hoping that this will work again even though I haven't met Prue yet.

I close my eyes and calm my thoughts. I've been mentally preparing for this ever since we got our final missing answers and I'm ready to meet my fate head on. In a lot of ways I feel like Carlisse did when she died, but I also feel more prepared and I know that I will win this one. I did deep inside myself and call upon my magic and I feel myself and my sisters disappear into the air in a puff of smoke and I feel us moving through and land again at the mausoleum.

"Wow. I really did it," I say. "Thanks for letting me try that again. And with passengers, to boot!"

"Yeah. Good job, Pres! See, I knew you could do it if you just relaxed a bit!" Billie says.

I give her a mildly annoyed look that I don't really mean and she just smiles at me. "Yeah, yeah. Alright. Are you ready for your part in this plan?" I ask her.

"Yep," she replies as she looks to the wall with names on plaques all over it and finds Prue's name on one. Where her cremated remains are sitting. We never did say this was going to be easy. "I just hope we don't get in trouble for defacing a grave so we could bring your dead sister back to life."

"Yeah, us too," Piper quips, holding a bag of clothes. She's nervous about what we have to do and about seeing her sister again after so many years without her. She wouldn't even answer her spirit summons, so she hasn't even talked to her like she has our mom and Grams. I personally find that rude, but the way Grams explained it, she's had a rough time adjusting to the fact that she's dead and couldn't handle seeing the rest of us still living. She's about to get over that bit and I will see to that one.

We all step back as Billie focuses on the plaque before us and she raises her hand and moves it off the wall with her powers, revealing an ashy mess behind it that are Prue's remains. It looks like the vase that she was in got smashed somehow while it was back there.

Billie again waves her hands and carefully pulls all the ashes out of the space in the wall and to the floor, being careful to not scatter anything and to not pull over vase pieces with it. I kneel next to the pile of ashes before me and I again close my eyes as I reach down inside myself for that deep place of love and life that I didn't know existed inside of me and grab onto it and pull it forth and out of my hands.

As I pull my powers up, my hands again glow a brilliant and beautiful shade of purple and the ashes begin to rearrange themselves and begin to reform a body before us. I open my eyes as I feel my powers working and watch it all happen. The gray dust slowly disappears and begins to turn into the pink color of skin and solidifies into flesh and bones. Finally after a moment, all of the ashes and dust is gone and there is a living, breathing Prue lying on the floor. She's bleeding like we thought she would be. The wounds she had when she died reformed along with her body, so Paige takes her cue and comes over and raises her hands over her body and they begin to glow yellow and the wounds slowly disappear as she heals them away.

Prue is conscious and confused, she just looks around at us with almost no comprehension before she locks eyes with Piper and love and pain cross both of their faces. "Hi," Piper says. "Look, we'll explain in a minute, but you might want to put these on." With that she holds out her hand that has the bag of clothes in it and that's when the reformed Prue realizes that she's very naked on top of everything else.

An umming sound comes through her mouth as Paige and I help her up and she reaches for the bag of clothes and moves away to get dressed while we all turn away to give her some privacy.

It only takes her a moment to put on the blue jeans, white cotton T-shirt, and white sneakers that Piper brought along. She figured that they'd be needed and she was definitely right.

"Alright," Prue says as she finishes clothing herself. "You don't have to explain too much to me. I do peek in from time to time like our oh-so-nosey Grams. You need the power of five. My only question is how'd you bring me back? Nobody can bring back the dead. I know that as well as everyone."

"That's where you're actually wrong," Phoebe says as Prue finally sees her large belly and she realizes that she's pregnant. "And yes, I'm pregnant. I'm sure you knew that."

"Actually, that one I didn't. So explain this to me. How am I wrong about the dead not being able to come back?"

Phoebe and Piper take turns explaining about my powers and about the demon Goriath that we now have to go face together as the five most powerful sisters known to ever exist and about Coop's thoughts about just why we were so powerful.

Paige and I just stand to the side and let them explain. We never knew Prue, so we figured it'd be better this way. Finally after all the explanations are over, she looks to me and Paige. She goes to Paige first and says, "Well, nice to meet you. And you've done some great stuff in my place. Thank you for bringing all my sisters back together after my death." A few more niceties are spoken and she finally comes to me and says, "Really nice to meet you as well. And thanks for bringing me back. Being dead is such a downer. Even if the only reason you brought me back was to help you fight your demon guy."

"It may be the main reason, but it's not the only one. I wanted to meet my other sister, too. But we should go soon. He's going to realize what's going on and if we don't catch him by enough surprise, we're all dead and I can't let that happen. Not to you guys. Can we have the reunion part after we vanquish Goriath?"

There are murmurs of agreement around all of us when another earthquake strikes us, this one much harder than the last one. Shit. He knows and he's pissed. He's determined to not let us be ready for him.

"Paige! Send Billie to magic school fast! We have got to leave and we've got to go now!" I yell at my sister.

Paige doesn't even nod. We're all trying to stay standing and to not let building debris hit us in the heads. She waves her hand at Billie and says, "Magic School!" and Billie disappears in a rush of orbs as she's transported to the safety of the magic school.

We all somehow manage to make our way together, the five of us, and we all hold hands. I close my eyes again and try to calm the swell of fear that came up when I felt Goriath realize what was going on and gear up. So much for hoping to take him by surprise. I reach inside myself again and will myself to find Goriath. He's my polar opposite. Just like Carlisse said. I don't need a spell like she did. He's death and I'm life. We're intertwined, but very different at the same time. And the fact that he did the things he did in my life give me the strength that I need now. I find him. A black hole of nothing but hate and pain and fury. Still in that abyss of his. But we're coming and he's going to be destroyed this time, I tell myself.

Now that I've found him, he's definitely found me and I hear a roar in my mind. I shut out the sound and shut out the fear for my sisters and I will us to dematerialize into smoke again and into Goriath's lair.

"Bitch," I hear him say in the nothingness that is him. "Do you honestly think you can best me? You, the reincarnation of that weakling who dared to challenge me so long ago? She may have trapped me, but I broke her spell. I am free again. And you are nothing compared to her. And she was quite pathetic. You know that nothing and no one can stop me. Least of all you!"

"That's where you're wrong, Goriath! It is you who are nothing and you are just trying to make me feel bad and question myself again. It's not going to happen. Not this time. It's you who will die today, not me!" I reply as he forms in front of all of us, just as terrifying now as he was in my past life. Maybe even a little scarier since he's angrier this time. But I can see the fear in his eyes and I just smile. It may not be a lot of fear, but it's enough. It means that he does know he has a weakness, after all.

"Fool! Your death will be more painful this time than the last!" he says as he raises his massive claws in the air, prepared to swipe at us all. Piper attempts to freeze him, but it fails.

"I am immune to your witchy powers, or did you forget! You can not defeat me!"

"Uh, right," she says quietly to herself and fear fills her face.

I reach into myself again and push my powers outward towards my sisters and with this action, we all begin to act by instinct as our powers again intertwine and mesh together. Piper stands in front of me, the pillar of strength and grounding, the earth. Phoebe stands to the right of me, the pillar of wisdom and intuition, the air. Prue behind me, the pillar of fight and determination, the fire. And Paige to my left, the pillar of healing and light, the water. I'm in the middle and I fill myself and my sisters with all of our combined strength and we are all together as one. All five of the elements together again.

With this, my body turns the brilliant purple that my hands give off when I brought my two sisters back to life. I will it to spread and fill us all. My sisters don't become the purple light like I am, but they are there, surrounding me and giving me strength while I in turn give them strength as well. I float in the air as this purple thing and I see the fear filling Goriath's eyes as realization finally finishes hitting him. I am life itself and my sisters and I are life's protectors and we won't fail.

I smile inside and I will my body to fly at Goriath with my hands outstretched and as my hands make contact with his massive chest, the purple that is my spirit and that which is life spreads through his black body and covers him up. I push my powers further out and force my life to fill him and I feel as my powers deplete it reach what must be his heart or whatever it was that brings him animation, not truly being a being at all, but an animation of death and fear. Just as it reaches his center, he explodes into a million pieces and is no more with barely a roar. But since I was touching him when he ceased to exist, the blow throws my purple body that is returning to its usual state now that my powers have been completely depleted in destroying this being back into the abyss.

I've accepted that I won't make it out of this fight, so I let go and I feel myself flying back into nothing. I won't land this time. Not like Carlisse. I will keep going. As I give up the last part of my strength to my sisters and let go to meet my own death, I feel myself floating slower and slower until it comes to a stop. As my momentum stops, I pass out. I'm just too spent. I gave too much.

I feel that same warmth fill my body as I feel myself coming back to consciousness that I felt when Paige had to heal me post-Carlisse. I'm being healed? But how? I was too far gone. The abyss was going to take me. I felt it and I had accepted it. So how am I being healed? Questions fill my mind as I come back to reality and I open my eyes to see all four of my sisters and the rest of my family surrounding me with concern and love on their faces.

"What? How?" I ask.

"Well," Phoebe starts as everyone helps me up to stand. "You see, you were flying away very fast and we knew that you gave up everything to defeat him like you did. Good job, by the way. Great vanquish. We also felt you give up the last of your magic to us and we felt you give up your life, or at least trying to. Prue used her telekinesis to stop your flight into whatever and brought you back to us. Paige felt your heartbeat, so we knew you hadn't died yet, but we had to get out of that place since it was not really being held together anymore by Goriath's powers and it really did just become an abyss that was starting to swallow us, so Paige just orbed all of us to magic school and then proceeded to heal you. She was as determined as you were to not let her die and she wasn't going to let you die. It was a close call, but here you are!"

"Thanks, sis," I say.

"Always," she responds with a smile.

"Well I figured I wasn't going to make it anyway and I had accepted it. I gave Prue a second chance at life as well as you. You all have reasons to live. Better reasons than me, anyway. I was ready to go. But I'm still glad you didn't want to let me go just yet."

"Yeah. Good fight," Piper says. "And we didn't even get hit. And I know that that was all thanks to you. He was more focused on you than on us. I think that's what gave us the chance we needed to feed you the last of those powers that you needed to kill him."

"Yeah. I had to. I have a family to protect. A growing family," I say as I rub Phoebe's big belly and turn to Piper. "But she's not the only one. You're gonna be sick for a while yet, Piper. You see, the added benefit to my power over life is that I felt the life beginning inside of you. It's a girl this time, in case you wanted to know!"

A large round of "What?" fills the room as the truth of what I just said fills us all with joy and happiness. Piper didn't think she could get pregnant again, but here she is.

And here I am. I get to enjoy it with them. Life truly couldn't get any better as a giant smile spreads across my face and I join in a group hug around Piper who still can't believe she's having that little girl she always dreamed of.

Life is wonderful. And it's ours to enjoy. As the power of five.


	25. Epilogue

It's been three years since we vanquished Goriath. It's definitely been a time of peace. Not even your more normal text book demons have really attacked.

In that time, I've learned that as horrible as my life was, it happened for a reason. It made me who I am. The kick ass woman who can bring the dead back to life.

Phoebe had her third daughter. She named her Penelope. I thought it was beautiful. And she really is. She's got her father's gifts of love and her mother's gift of foresight, so we all know that she'll be the most powerful Cupid ever known, because not only can she make matches of love, she knows if it'll stick for good. Truly making matches in heaven.

Piper had her daughter as well. Melinda Prudence. It's not yet quite clear what her gifts will be yet as she's just barely 2, but I know she'll grow to do wonderful things.

Prue has really been a wonderful re-addition to the family. She loves to fight demons whenever they do strike, which is a rarity, but she's always there to deal with the problem quickly. She did eventually start to feel lonely and approached me about Andy. I reluctantly agreed, but we had to give the two of them entirely new identities seeing as they've both been dead for years. That just wouldn't work in this world of red tape. But we all made it work. And they even have a son now. Andy Jr. He's definitely a little heart breaker and has the best of both of his parents.

After Paige's death and subsequent being brought back to life, her and Henry have learned to cherish each other more, if that was even possible. They loved each other so much to begin with, but now it's transcendent. It's truly beautiful. She hasn't given up the whole whitelighter gig, but that's okay. That's just who she is. She's just learned to be more careful.

As for me, you may ask, I'm happier than I've ever been. Not only did I finally find the family that I lost so long ago without quite knowing it, I've gained even more. About a year after vanquishing Goriath, I met a wonderful man named Roger thanks to Coop's interference. We met at a coffee shop and really hit it off. We married about a year after that and are expecting our own daughter any day now. We are going to name her Calliope. I figured it was close enough to Carlisse, the one who brought me and the rest of us so much through her own selflessness and sacrifice. I couldn't bring myself to name her that completely, but I knew this was good enough and we are all happy about it.

Truly, life has never been better. Calliope will be joining the family very soon.

And the power of five has never been more alive.

* * *

**A/N: Well, there it is. Darkness Falls is complete. I hope you enjoyed.**


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